Burn injuries in Enugu, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Burn injury has been observed as a world wide problem.. The knowledge of the epidemiology is important for planning of management and preventive programmes and every community is encouraged to study the epidemiology of burns since this important problem varies from community to community.

Method: This is a retrospective review of all our burn patients who presented with acute burn injuries between January 1993 and December 1997. Admission registers and patients' folders were the sources of information. The information obtained include age, sex, place of injury, month of injury, cause of injury, management and outcome.

Results: A total of 285 patients with acute burn injuries were studied. Males were 180 [63.2%] while females were 101 [35.4%]. Flame was the single most common cause of burn injury [147 or 49.1%] while electrical burns was less frequent [4 or 1.4%]. Majority of burn injuries occurred in the months of December and January. The mortality rate was 23.2%.

Conclusion: The incidence and mortality of burn injury has remained high in this environment. We suggest a well targeted prevention campaign program to reduce this high incidence and high mortality in this environment.

Keywords: burn injuries, epidemiology, flame mortality, December/ January

Nigerian Journal of Surgical Research Vol. 7(3&4) 2005: 271-273