The Global Burn Registry: A Work in Progress

Recovery of functional independence following major burn: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Major burn injury, despite advancements in care and prevention, can have a profound impact on long-term morbidity, affecting quality of life and socioeconomic standing. We aim to explore factors predicting recovery of independence, the expected rate and time in majorly burned patients, and the measures of progress used.

METHOD

A systematic search of four databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, COCHRANE, CINAHL) was conducted for studies reporting outcomes pertaining to physical ability indicative of independent function in adult (>15 y) cohorts who had suffered a major burn (>20% TBSA) up to 30 years after treatment in a developed specialised burn service. Data extracted included factors affecting rate of and time to achievement of function in five independence domains, as well as the outcome measures used.

RESULTS

21 eligible studies were included comprising 1298 major burns survivors with a combined mean age of 39.6 y and a mean TBSA of 25.8%. The most significant recurring factors impacting recovery of independent function were older age, female gender, burn severity, prolonged ICU and hospital admission, preceding mental health conditions, and post-acute psychological issues. Exercise-based rehabilitation conferred benefits on major burn patients even over 2 years following injury. Discharge to independent living from hospital occurred in 27% to 97% of patients, while reported return to work rates varied from 52% to 80%. Burns Specific Health Scale-Brief, Functional Independence Measure, and Physical Composite Score (SF-36) were the most widely used outcome scoring systems.

CONCLUSION

Major burn survivors have protracted recovery with potential for persistent chronic impairments, remaining consistently below baseline levels of function. Non-modifiable factors such as age and gender, and disease characteristics such as burn size with associated physical, physiological and psychosocial sequelae are contributory. Further research is required to explore achievement of specific milestones of major burn and polytrauma critical care patients, while early targeted rehabilitation addressing physical, psychological, and vocational needs has promising potential benefit.

Burn data management and usage across Canada

INTRODUCTION

While some countries collect burn clinical data as part of nonspecific trauma datasets, others have developed burn registries allowing for benchmarking of outcome and quality-of-care data. The objectives of this project are to characterize the current state of burn clinical data collection and analysis in Canada, and to explore the interest of Canadian burn centers in contributing to a nation-wide burn registry.

METHODS

A 23-item mixed methods survey was created and delivered via REDCap® to burn directors of 22 burn centers across Canada. Quantitative items were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics, and thematic analysis was used to explore qualitative data.

RESULTS

Sixteen (72 %) complete survey responses were received. All respondent units collect burn clinical data. Data are largely collected for quality improvement (69 %) and clinical research (50 %) purposes. Half of the institutions did not analyze their data, and a majority (67 %) did not benchmark their data against other datasets. The majority of respondents (93 %) demonstrated interest in contributing to a Canada-wide burn registry.

CONCLUSION

Although all respondent units are currently collecting burn clinical data, there is an opportunity to improve data analysis, benchmarking, and knowledge translation. Most centers demonstrated interest in contributing to a novel Canadian burn registry.

Global epidemiology of geriatric burns, capacities of care, and injury outcomes: Perspectives from the World Health Organization global burn registry

BACKGROUND

An increasing aging population alongside a potentially increasing injury risk emphasizes a critical need for evidence-based burn care regarding preventive and therapeutic strategies tailored to the unique needs of older adults. However, we note a critical gap in understanding geriatric burn trends on a global scale and the care capacity across settings. Thus, this study sought to ascertain the global trend of geriatric burns with a focus on patient demographics, injury characteristics, capacities of care, and injury outcomes.

METHODS

A retrospective design focusing on older adults aged ≥ 60 years with burns recorded in the World Health Organization Global Burn Registry as of 31st May 2023 was employed. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyze the data.

RESULTS

Of the 9277 records obtained from the Global Burn Registry, 849 participants (9.2%) were aged ≥ 60 years with the majority of these reported from the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) and Southeast Asia (SEARO) regions. More females than males were involved in burn injuries with the most common aetiological factor being flame. Most burns occurred in the home/ domestic setting with a seasonal variation (more injuries occurred in December and January). In terms of burn care capacity, the data suggest the availability of specialized services in most settings albeit the AFRO and SEARO regions still lacked the resources to offer specialized burn care. While most injured older adults were discharged home with no physical impairment (395, 46.5%), a substantial number died (250, 29.4%) during hospitalization, particularly in the African (AFRO) region and 111 (11.1%) left the facility against medical advice with the majority from the SEARO region (88).

CONCLUSION

Burn injuries in older adults remain a public health issue. On the preventive aspect, the results demonstrate a need to intensify safety in the home or domestic setting, and during festive seasons. Therapeutically, the findings underscore a need to consider the inclusion of more specialist geriatric and palliative care services in the burn management process. Additionally, we identified a need to strengthen burn care capacity in the AFRO and SEARO regions.

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of older adults with burns: a 15-year retrospective analysis of 2554 cases in Wuhan Institute of Burns

BACKGROUND

With the increase of geriatric burns, it's urgent to summarize its characteristics. The aim of this study was to analyze the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of older adults with burns in a large center, and to provide suggestions for the prevention and treatment of geriatric burns.

METHODS

This retrospective study was conducted at Wuhan Institute of Burns which is the largest burn center in central China between 2004 to 2018. Demographic and clinical data of the 60 years or above older burn inpatients were collected from medical records, analyzed and compared among groups.

RESULTS

This study analyzed 2554 elderly burns, which included 50.9% in young geriatric group (60-69 years old), 32.9% in middle geriatric group (70-79 years old) and 16.2% in the oldest geriatric group (80 years old or above). The most common causes of elderly burns were flames (1081, 42.3%) and scalding (1041, 40.8%). Elderly burns with total body surface area (TBSA) of 0-9% accounted for 60.6% and the larger TBSA, the fewer number of patients. The majority of patients (70.5%) injured at home.The median of time interval from injury to admission was 7 h and the oldest geriatric group (24 h) was highest. One hundred and twenty-one cases (8.5%) were treated by cooling treatment, and 72.7% of these patients were treated less than 10 min. The median number of pre-injury diseases was one. Ninety patients (6.3%) had inhalation injury.The median length of stay (LOS) was 14 days.The median hospital cost was 10,410 CNY or 2137 CNY per % TBSA, which was correlated with TBSA, LOS, surgery, inhalation injury, number of pre-injury diseases and etiology. The mortality rate was 3.0% and correlated with TBSA, inhalation injury, pulmonary disease and Alzheimer's disease. The lethal area 50% (LA₅₀) for total admitted elderly burns was 78.3% TBSA (95% confidence interval [CI] = 69.8 ~ 89.9% TBSA).

CONCLUSION

Geriatric burns was still common and even increasing in central China, with flame burns and scalds the most common causes, majority of whom injured at home and often had problems such as few cooling treatment, improper emergency management and delayed admission. TBSA, etiology, pre-injury diseases and inhalation injury were the risk factors of length of stay, hospital cost and treatment outcomes.

Global Disparities in Burn Outcomes: Does Gender Predict Mortality in the Global Burn Registry?

INTRODUCTION

Global burn injury burden disproportionately impacts low- and middle-income countries. Surgery is a mainstay of burn treatment, yet access to surgical care appears to be inequitably distributed for women. This study sought to identify gender disparities in mortality and access to surgery for burn patients in the World Health Organization Global Burn Registry (GBR).

METHODS

We queried the World Health Organization GBR for a retrospective cohort (2016-2021). Patients were stratified by sex. Outcomes of interest were in-hospital mortality and surgical treatment. Patient demographics, injury characteristics, outcomes, and health facility resources were compared between sexes with Wilcoxon rank sum test for nonparametric medians, and chi-squared or Fisher's exact test for nonparametric proportions. Multivariable logistic regressions were performed to assess the relationships between sex and mortality, and sex and surgery.

RESULTS

Of 8445 patients in the GBR from 20 countries (10 low resource), 40% of patients were female, with 51% of all patients receiving surgical treatment during their hospitalization. Female patients had a higher incidence of mortality (24% versus 15%, P < 0.001) and a higher median total body surface area (20% versus 15%, P < 0.001), yet a lower incidence of surgery (47% versus 53%, P < 0.001) following burn injury when compared to males. In multivariable analysis, female sex was independently associated with mortality after controlling for age, time to presentation, smoke injury, percent total body surface area, surgery, and country income status. Female sex was independently associated with surgical care (odds ratio 0.86, P = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Female burn patients suffer higher mortality compared to males and are less likely to receive surgery. Further study into this gender disparity in burns is warranted.

Examining the patient profile and variance of management and in-hospital outcomes for Australian adult burns patients

BACKGROUND

Burn injuries are a common subtype of trauma. Variation in models of care impacts clinical measures of interest, but a nation-wide examination of these measures has not been undertaken. Using data from the Burns Registry of Australia and New Zealand (BRANZ), we explored variation between Australian adult burn services with respect to treatment and clinical measures of interest.

METHODS

Data for admissions July 2016 to June 2020 were extracted. Clinical measures of interest included intensive care admission, skin grafting, in-hospital death, unplanned readmissions, and length of stay (LOS). Estimated probabilities, means, and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for each service.

RESULTS

The BRANZ recorded 8365 admissions during the study period. Variation between specialist burn services in admissions, demographics, management, and clinical measures of interest were observed. This variation remained after accounting for covariates. Specifically, the adjusted proportion (95% CI) of in-hospital mortality ranged from 0.15% (0.10-0.21%) to 1.22% (0.9-1.5%). The adjusted mean LOS ranged from 3.8 (3.3-4.3) to 8.2 (6.7-9.7) days.

CONCLUSIONS

A decade after its launch, BRANZ data displays variation between Australian specialist burn services. We suspect differences in models of care between services contributes to this variation. Ongoing research has begun to explore reasons underlying how this variation influences clinical measures of interest. Further engagement with services about models of care will enhance understanding of this variation and develop evidence-based guidelines for burn care in Australia.

Comparing Peak Burn Injury Times and Characteristics in Australia and New Zealand

Burns are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Understanding when and how burns occur, as well as the differences between countries, would aid prevention efforts. A review of burn injuries occurring between July 2009 and June 2021 was undertaken using data from the Burns Registry of Australia and New Zealand. Peak injury times were identified on a country-by-country basis. Variations in demographic and injury event profiles between countries were compared using descriptive statistics. There were 26,925 admissions recorded across the two countries (23,323 for Australia; 3602 for New Zealand). The greatest number of injuries occurred between 6 PM to 7 PM in Australia (1871, 8.0%) and between 5 PM to 6 PM in New Zealand (280, 7.8%). In both countries, scalds accounted for the greatest proportion of injuries during peak times (988, 45.8%), but a greater proportion of young children (under three years) sustained burns during New Zealand’s peak times. The number of burn injuries associated with the preparation and/or consumption of food offers an opportunity for a targeted prevention program that may yield benefits across the two countries. Age- and mechanism-related differences in the profile of burn-injured patients need to be considered when developing and implementing such a program.

Burn Registries State of Affairs: A Scoping review

Registry science allows for the interpretation of disease-specific patient data from secondary databases. It can be utilized to understand disease and injury, answer research questions, and engender benchmarking of quality-of-care indicators. Numerous burn registries exist globally, however, their contributions to burn care have not been summarized. The objective of this study is to characterize the available literature on burn registries. The authors conducted a scoping review, having registered the protocol a priori. A thorough search of the English literature, including grey literature, was carried out. Publications of all study designs were eligible for inclusion provided they utilized, analyzed, and/or critiqued data from a burn registry. Three hundred twenty studies were included, encompassing 16 existing burn registries. The most frequently used registries for peer-reviewed publications were the American Burn Association Burn Registry, Burn Model System National Database, and the Burns Registry of Australia and New Zealand. The main limitations of existing registries are the inclusion of patients admitted to burn centers only, deficient capture of outpatient and long-term outcome data, lack of data standardization across registries, and the paucity of studies on burn prevention and quality improvement methodology. Registries are an invaluable source of information for research, delivery of care planning, and benchmarking of processes and outcomes. Efforts should be made to stimulate other jurisdictions to build burn registries and for existing registries to be improved through data linkage with administrative databases, and by standardizing one international minimum dataset, in order to maximize the potential of registry science in burn care.

Recording Patient Data in Burn Unit Logbooks in Rwanda: Who and What Are We Missing?

Systematic data collection in high-income countries has demonstrated a decreasing burn morbidity and mortality, whereas lack of data from low- and middle-income countries hinders a global overview of burn epidemiology. In low- and middle-income countries, dedicated burn registries are few. Instead, burn data are often recorded in logbooks or as one variable in trauma registries, where incomplete or inconsistently recorded information is a known challenge. The University Teaching Hospital of Kigali hosts the only dedicated burn unit in Rwanda and has collected data on patients admitted for acute burn care in logbooks since 2005. This study aimed to assess the data registered between January 2005 and December 2019, to evaluate the extent of missing data, and to identify possible factors associated with “missingness.” All data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Fisher’s exact test, and Wilcoxon Rank Sum test. In this study, 1093 acute burn patients were included and 64.2% of them had incomplete data. Data completeness improved significantly over time. The most commonly missing variables were whether the patient was referred from another facility and information regarding whether any surgical intervention was performed. Missing data on burn mechanism, burn degree, and surgical treatment were associated with in-hospital mortality. In conclusion, missing data is frequent for acute burn patients in Rwanda, although improvements have been seen over time. As Rwanda and other low- and middle-income countries strive to improve burn care, ensuring data completeness will be essential for the ability to accurately assess the quality of care, and hence improve it.