Clinical and epidemiological characterization of patients admitted to a Reference Center for Burns Assistance in southern Brazil

Abstract

Burns are traumatic injuries with loss of skin protection, caused by external agents, making individuals susceptible to infections, which can progress to sepsis and death. The aim of this study was to characterize the clinical and epidemiological profile of burned patients admitted to a Reference Burn Unit in southern Brazil. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study of a quantitative nature with data collected from the system of the Reference Center for Burns Assistance of the Associação de Caridade Santa Casa do Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, between January 2016 and December 2017. The sample consisted of 225 patients, mostly adults (52.7%), followed by children (30.5%), males (64.4%) and from the city of Rio Grande (46.5%). The residence was the most frequent place of occurrence (74.1%). The most common causal agent was of thermal origin (85.3%), mainly scalding (41.3%). Small burned patients consisted of 74.7%, with an average burned body surface of 12.3%, and second degree injuries in 79.6%. The most used topical treatment was the silver sulfadiazine compound (92.8%). Debridement was performed in 93.3% of the patients and grafting in 5.8%. There were secondary complications in 22.2% of the cases. The average hospital stay was 14 days, ranging from 1 to 97, and the main outcome was hospital discharge (98.7%). The data points to urgent adoption of control and prevention measures, especially in the domestic environment.