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Oxford University Press - PMC COVID-19 Collection logoLink to Oxford University Press - PMC COVID-19 Collection
. 2022 Aug 19:irac118. doi: 10.1093/jbcr/irac118

A multi-institutional study evaluating pediatric burn injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Christina M Georgeades 1,2,, Amelia T Collings 3, Manzur Farazi 4,5, Mary E Fallat 6,7, Peter C Minneci 8,9, Thomas T Sato 10,11, K Elizabeth Speck 12, Kyle Van Arendonk 13,14, Katherine J Deans 15,16, Richard A Falcone Jr 17,18, David S Foley 19,20, Jason Fraser 21, Samir Gadepalli 22, Martin S Keller 23, Meera Kotagal 24,25, Matthew P Landman 26, Charles M Leys 27, Troy A Markel 28, Nathan Rubalcava 29, Shawn D St Peter 30, Katherine T Flynn-O’Brien 31,32
PMCID: PMC9452075  PMID: 35985296

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, children were out of school due to Stay-at-Home orders. The objective of this study was to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the incidence of burn injuries in children. Eight Level I Pediatric Trauma Centers participated in a retrospective study evaluating children <18 years old with traumatic injuries defined by the National Trauma Data Bank. Patients with burn injuries were identified by ICD-10 codes. Historical controls from March-September 2019 (“Control” cohort) were compared to patients injured after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic from March-September 2020 (“COVID” cohort). A total of 12,549 pediatric trauma patients were included, of which 916 patients had burn injuries. Burn injuries increased after the start of the pandemic (COVID 522/6711 [7.8%] vs. Control 394/5838 [6.7%], p=0.03). There were no significant differences in age, race, insurance status, burn severity, injury severity score, intent or location of injury, and occurrence on a weekday or weekend between cohorts. There was an increase in flame burns (COVID 140/522 [26.8%] vs. Control 75/394 [19.0%], p=0.01) and a decrease in contact burns (COVID 118/522 [22.6%] vs. Control 112/394 [28.4%], p=0.05). More patients were transferred from an outside institution (COVID 315/522 patients [60.3%] vs. Control 208/394 patients [52.8%], p=0.02), and intensive care unit length of stay increased (COVID median 3.5 days [interquartile range 2.0-11.0] vs. Control median 3.0 days [interquartile range 1.0-4.0], p=0.05). Pediatric burn injuries increased after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic despite Stay-at-Home orders intended to optimize health and increase public safety.

Keywords: Pediatric burns, COVID-19, burn injury, pediatric trauma


Articles from Journal of Burn Care & Research: Official Publication of the American Burn Association are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

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