Dramatic increase in burn survival over past 30 years

Editor's Note

Great strides in burn care over the past 30 years have dramatically increased burn patients’ chances of survival by 2% per year, this study finds.

Between 1989 and 2017, there were 10,384 burn admissions with 355 mortalities. Researchers looked at the main factors that influenced risk of death in different age groups and created a risk prediction model.

The study identified the most powerful predictors of mortality: the percent of body surface burned, age, and presence of inhalation injury.

The data suggest that the continuous improvement in mortality is a result of changes in the standard of care, including protocols for management of inhalation injury, nutrition to combat infection and aid healing, and receiving early burn excision and skin grafts immediately after injury.