Clustering of burns with other types of injury in patients younger than 10 years of age.

BACKGROUND

Childhood burns may cluster with other trauma, but the relationship between burns and other injuries is poorly understood. The objective of this study was to determine the association between burns and other types of injury hospitalization in children younger than age 10 years.

METHODS

We carried out a multicenter cohort study of 4,262 patients aged younger than 10 years with burns who were matched with 40,518 controls in Quebec, Canada. The main exposure measure was a burn requiring hospital treatment. The main outcome was hospitalization for other types of injury anytime between birth and age 10 years. We used Cox regression models adjusted for patient characteristics to assess the association (hazard ratio; 95% confidence interval) between burns and risk of other injury hospitalization.

RESULTS

Patients with burns had a greater rate of hospitalization for other types of injury than controls (7.6 vs 5.1 per 1,000 person-years), equivalent to 1.46 times greater risk (95% confidence interval, 1.29-1.65). Compared with controls, patients with burns were 1.61 times more likely to have an injury hospitalization between age 0 and <5 years (95% confidence interval, 1.39-1.88) and 1.25 times more likely between age 5 and <10 years (95% confidence interval, 1.02-1.52). Patients with burns were 4.74 times more likely to have been hospitalized for a maltreatment injury before their burn (95% confidence interval, 2.68-8.38).

CONCLUSION

Children with burns are at high risk of hospitalization for other injuries before age 10 years. A better understanding of how pediatric injuries cluster with burns may help prevent child trauma.