The changing pattern of pediatric burns in a territory burn center before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in China: A retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric burn patients are an essential part of burn populations. However, there is limited publicly available data on the epidemiological impact of COVID-19 on pediatric burns in China.

OBJECTIVE: In this paper, pediatric burn patients admitted to the Department of Burn Surgery of the First Hospital of Jilin University before and during COVID-19 were retrospectively investigated to determine the impact of COVID-19 on pediatric burn inpatients.

METHODS: The information of inpatients from July 2017 to December 2019 (pre-COVID-19 group) and from January 2020 to June 2022 (COVID-19 group) in the Department of Burn Surgery at the First Hospital of Jilin University was retrospectively investigated. Demographic information of patients, length of hospital stay, total body surface area (TBSA) of burn injury, post-injury visit time, comorbidity, surgical methods, etc., were statistically analyzed.

RESULTS: The COVID-19 group included 154 (10.2%) patients, and the pre-COVID-19 group included 335 (19.4%) patients (P＜0.001). There were no differences in gender, age, length of hospital stay, or etiology of burns between the two groups. Compared to the pre-COVID-19 group, patients in the pre-COVID-19 group experienced a significant delay in presentation (P＜0.001), had a larger TBSA of burn wound (P ＜ 0.001), were more prone to sustaining major burns (P ＜ 0.001), a higher likelihood of undergoing operations (P = 0.03), higher cost (P＜0.001) and more complications (P＜0.001). Additionally, upper extremities were the most commonly part involved in both groups (P = 0.004), with the lower extremities showed a significant increase to be involved in burn injury during COVID-19 pandemic (P = 0.007). Furthermore, the majority of guardians did not take first aid measures in both groups following burn injury (P = 0.102).

CONCLUSIONS: During the COVID-19 pandemic period, scalds remained the main reason for hospitalization. The number of hospitalized patients has decreased dramatically, while the severity of burns has significantly increased, with a notable delay in hospital visits and an increased occurrence of complications.