Epidemiology and mortality of adult burns in Catalonia

Burn injuries still produce significant morbidity and mortality in developed countries. The incidence of burns in Catalonia is similar to other countries, with 31.2 per 100000 person/year referred to a specialized unit for definitive treatment. The Burn Center of the Vail d'Hebron hospital system is located at the General Hospital. It is the only facility for burns in the state of Catalonia. The catchment population is 6 million people, with 1814+/-89 burned patients treated in the emergency room per year and 396+/-15 of them admitted per year. Overall mortality is 3.49%. Inhalation injury and ARDS have a low incidence in our series with a high mortality. Factors associated with an increase in mortality are contact burns, inhalation injury, age and burn size. Pre-existing conditions did not affect survival in our series and 75% of all deaths occurred in the first week. Patients were treated with early serial debridement and cerium nitrate sulfadiazine, with results comparable to others in the literature. Mortality rates were compared to the Abbreviated Burn Severity Index, with a disparity in results, advocating the necessity to find a better and more applicable prognostic test for the outcome of burn injuries. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.