Epidemiology of hospitalized burn patients in China: A systematic review

Burn injury is one of the most destructive injuries around the world. The past several decades have witnessed a rapid development of burn surgery, but burn prevention still remains a weak point in China. Although lots of papers had published on burn epidemiology, a comprehensive national study about epidemiology of burns in China remains scarce. The present study aims to identify certain epidemiological characteristics of burns in China through a systematic review of available previous literatures. A systemic Pubmed, Embase, China Biology Medicine disc Database (CBM) and Chinese Journal Full-text Database (CJFD) search was conducted for retrospective studies published in English or Chinese between 1978 and 2016 that focus on epidemiology of burns of all age groups in China. Data on demographic characteristics, seasonal variation, agents causing burns, severity, mortality and main causes of death in the selected studies were extracted for analysis. Thirty-one retrospective articles were identified. Burns are particularly prevalent in summer and males are more vulnerable to burns in most regions of China. The age distribution of burn patients showed peaks at the age groups of 0–5 and 20–30 yr. Thermal burns, especially scalds are the most common type of burns. Minor burn patients with 10% total body surface area (TBSA) burn or less make up the majority of hospital admissions. Mortality ranges widely from 0.3% to 7.5% in different areas and periods. Sepsis, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and inhalation injuries are the main causes of death. Male, children under 5 and young workers aged between 20 and 30 are two high-risk population for burns. Future research should focus on the early diagnosis and treatment of sepsis, MODS and inhalation injury so as to decrease the mortality of burns. In addition, it is necessary to improve education on the prevention and relevant prehospital emergency care of burns, so as to reduce the morbidity and mortality of the injury.