Features of the Burn Disease Course in Older Adult Patients

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we investigated the course of burn disease in older adult patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our study group included 160 older adult patients with burn injuries who were treated in the burn department of the Republican Research Center of Emergency Medicine from 2010 to 2020. Data were obtained from retrospective examination of medical records. The age of patients ranged from 60 to 86 years, with average age of 68.4 ±7.8 years. We divided patients into younger-old (n= 128 patients [80%]; 60-74 years old) and older-old (n = 32 [20%]; 75-89 years old) groups. There were 92 men (57.5%) and 68 women (42.5%). RESULTS: Older adult patients do not always seek medical help in a timely manner. In our patient group, 75 patients were admitted within the first 6 hours after receiving a thermal injury and 38 patients were admitted from 7 to 24 hours after injury. However, 23 older adult patients were hospitalized 1 to 3 days after injury, and 24 were hospitalized more than 3 days after injury. As a rule, late presentation of our younger-old and older-old patients for specialized care was as a result of both social and subjective factors, including insufficient attention of relatives to the fact of injury or the absence of a permanent caregiver nearby, underestimation of the severity of the injury, decreased pain sensitivity in the deep burn zone, and unwillingness to be hospitalized. CONCLUSIONS: Burn injury in younger-old and older-old patients showed an aggravated and complicated course of burn disease, mainly because of age-related involutional changes and a high frequency of concomitant chronic diseases involving mostly the cardiovascular, respiratory, and central nervous systems. This category of older adult patients requires preventive measures against exacerbation of concomitant diseases and the need for early treatment after burn injury to avoid complications.