To assess the prognostic factors influencing mortality of burn patients. the medical records 592 consecutive burn patients treated in the burn center of a university hospital between January 1991 and June 1992 were reviewed. Data was gathered on
general
characteristics of patient, degree of burn, outcome of patients and other related informations.
Of these patients, 107(17.9%) case were moribund(11 cases) or died(96 case) subsequently and the major causes of death were sepsis(62%) and pulmonary complication(22%) In univariate analysis, age, occupation, cause of burn, full thickness of burn
area(FTBA), total burn surface area(TBSA), inhalation injury, interval from burn to admission, presence of pre-existing diseased and combined trauma contributed to mortality burn patients.
When the analysis was performed with multiple logistic regression model with 11 variables that were significant 7 factors in univariate analysis of this study and 4 factors in other studies, 7 variables including FTBA, TSBA and inhalation injury
were
significant and sex was non significant in univariate analysis but significant in multiple logistic regression model.
In stratified analysis adjusted with degree of severity of burn(FTBA and TBSA) as the most important prognostic factor influencing survival of burn patients, the mortality rate showed a trend of increase as the age increased and presence of
pre-existing
disease played a role of risk factor especially in the mid-range group of severity of burn. In the low-range group, the most predisposing prognostic factor was inhalation injury. Consequently, this result suggests that better management of
pulmonary
complications may improve survival and it is necessary to study on the burn patients with inhalation injury.
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