The long-term health-related quality of life in children treated for burns as infants 5-9 years earlier.

The long-term outcome after infant burn was queried 5-9 years after the initial accident. All participants had been treated for burn in Children's Hospital, Helsinki, Finland, before the age of 1 year. We hypothesized that the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in young burn survivors may be impaired compared to healthy age matched peers. The health-related quality of life of 126 infant burned patients with a mean total body surface area (TBSA) of 3.5% was queried with the standardized and validated 17D questionnaire. The HRQoL of the respondents was compared to that of a representative sample of the general age-standardized population. A total of 44 (35%) children with a mean age of 7 years responded, and 64% of them were male. The median time from trauma was 6.3 years. Burn related features, age at burn time, burn size and site, and the treatment given were similar in the respondents group and all children approached. The mean HRQoL score of the respondents was better than that of the control population (p<0.05). Comparison of the 17D profiles of the patients having been treated as inpatients or outpatients showed that those treated on an outpatient basis had better scores on the dimensions of speech, breathing, and friends (p<0.05). The 17D profiles of patients with scalds or contact burns were similar. The perceived and expressed long-term HRQoL in the burned children was good, and on some dimensions (sleeping, learning, discomfort and symptoms, breathing, depression, and appearance) even better, than that of the control population.