Did COVID-19 Pandemic Conditions Change the Features of Pediatric Minor Burn Injuries? A Single-Center Experience

Abstract

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Social life changes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced burn injury characteristics among children. Here, we compared features among pediatric burn outpatients who were treated at our burn center before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We compared medical records of 217 patients treated between March 2018 and May 2019 (pre-pandemic; group I) and 212 patients treated between March 2020 and May 2021 (during the pandemic; group II). P < .05 was significant. RESULTS: In group I versus group II, mean age was 4.19 ± 0.4 versus 4.25 ± 0.3 years, male-to-female ratio was 0.9:1 versus 1.1:1, and mean total surface area burned was 1.87 ± 0.2% versus 1.93 ± 0.3%, respectively (P > .05). Most patients in both groups lived in urban settings, had mostly day-time injuries, and were under the umbrella of the social security system, with cause of burns being mostly scalds (P > .05). Injuries occurred mostly at home in both groups, but more patients in group II had outdoor burns (P < .05). Hands, head, and neck regions were more commonly involved in group I than in group II (P < .05). Group II patients were more frequently admitted on the same day as injury (P < .05), but rates of direct burn center admission were similar with resembling numbers of other medical center admissions before reaching to our burn-center (P > .05). CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic did not change primary burn injury features among our pediatric outpatients. Decreases in burns to hands, head, and neck and increases in admissions on the same day as injury during the pandemic may be a clue for enhanced caregiver precaution against injuries to children during lockdowns. Increased admissions on the same day as injury may reflect our uninterrupted burn care service, because many other medical centers had to serve COVID-19 patients rather than burn victims.