The impact of risk factors and pre-existing conditions on the mortality of burn patients and the precision of predictive admission-scoring systems

Clinical experience has shown that concomitant diseases and risk factors have a significant influence on the patient's outcome. Since none of the currently available score systems consider the impact of concomitant diseases or risk factors on burn trauma mortality, the present study was planned to further evaluate the role of these factors. Four hundred and ninety-eight patients could be included in this retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. Parameters documented were: sex, age, weight, height, laboratory data, TBSA, inhalation trauma (IHT), full thickness (3 degrees) burn and pre-existing conditions. Single-variable analysis (SVA), logistic regression and CAAT analysis were performed. The data confirm the role of age and TBSA as the strongest prognostic variables. Chronic alcohol abuse and smoking, IHT and pre-existing cardiac and neurologic conditions were also found to be significant. Borderline groups could be identified in the ABSI score (7-10), where the risk factors cause 'mortality-shifting'. It can be concluded that risk factors and pre-existing conditions have a significant impact on the prognosis of burn mortality and should be incorporated into further refinements of burn admission scores. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd for ISBI.