The social milieu of burn injury and recovery: Using "Social Capital" as a framework for evaluating sex differences

This retrospective review describes differences in social and demographic factors of women and men hospitalized for acute burns. These differences are examined using the framework of social capital to assess burn injury outcomes. Our TRACS-ABA registry was used to identify adult women admitted for the treatment of acute burns from 1998 to 2002. Each woman was matched by age (+/- 5 years), %TBSA (+/- 5%), and inhalation injury to a man hospitalized during the same period. Patient medical records were reviewed for sociodemographic data, burn etiology, hospital course, and discharge information. One hundred forty-five adult women hospitalized for burn injury during the study period were successfully matched by age, burn size, and inhalation injury to 145 men. The mean age of study patients was 46.4 +/- 18 years. The mean %TBSA burned was 13.0 +/- 18, and 15.5% had inhalation injury. There were no sex-related differences in any clinical outcomes evaluated. A surprising finding was that women were admitted to the hospital significantly later than men after injury (3.7 vs 1.2 days; P < .05). Days from admit to injury negatively correlated with %TBSA in women, but not in men. Women also differed from men in a number of sociodemographic factors. Social and demographic differences exist between men and women admitted for treatment of acute burn injury. These differences influence admission after burn injury. Additional efforts are needed to better measure and evaluate the role of social capital in burn injury epidemiology, management, and outcomes.