Paediatric Burns: Mortality in a Burns Unit

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the aetiology of burns, themortality rate and factors contributing tomortality in childrenwith burns. A retrospective review of mortality among children in a burns unit over a 5 year period was done.Outcome ofmeasures included patients\' age and sex, agents of burn, number of days on admission before death/discharge and causes of death. The most common cause of burn injuries in this group of patients was scald (70.90%). Fourteen (11.0%) out of 127 children died; flame was responsible for most 13(92.8%) deaths. Acute renal failure (ARF) was the cause of deaths in 6(42.8%) patients, sepsis in 5(35.7%), multiple organ failure in 1 (7.1%), and upper gastrointestinal bleeding in 1(7.1%) patient. Burn injury, especially from flames, is associated with a high mortality rate in children. Safe practices with flammable liquids (petrol in particular) should be emphasized in paediatric burn prevention programmes. Keywords: Paediatric, burn,mortality, prevention.African Journal of Paediatric Surgery Vol. 4 (2) 2007: pp. 82-8