Model System:

Burn

Reference Type:

JA

Accession No.:

Journal:


Journal of Burn Care Research

Year, Volume, Issue, Page(s):

, 28, , 84-96

Publication Website:

Abstract:

Advances in critical care and surgical management have significantly improved survival following burns over the past several decades. However, today, survival alone is an insufficient outcome. The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) has created a program to evaluate the long-term sequelae of burn injuries. As part of this multi-center program, a comprehensive demographic and outcome database has been developed to study functional and
psychosocial outcomes following burns. The purpose of this study was to review the design, structure and data obtained in the first decade of theNIDRRburn program. Methods: This was a descriptive study of the NIDRRdatabase structure and content. There are four centers in the current funding cycle. Data is uploaded on a regular basis to a central Data Center. For this study all data from 1994-2004 was analyzed. Raw data from all fields were analyzed to produce summary descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 4600 patients have been entered into theNIDRRdatabase. 3449 (75%) patients were alive at discharged and
consented for follow up. The majority of patients enrolled were male (71% ), but gender differences were less at extremes of age. 22% of patients over age 16 had not graduated high school and 27% were unemployed at the time of injury. Over 10% of patients had history of alcohol and/or substance abuse. The majority of patients following burn injury were discharged to their own
home (67%), or someone else’s home (12%). 290 (6%) patients required an amputation as a result of their injury. The majority of these amputations (200 or 69%) were of the digits. 155 (3%) and 136 (3%) of patients had an upper extremity and lower extremity mononeuropathy, respectively. At six months following discharge 36 (4%) children were not back to school. The number of children in school decreased to 23 (3%) at one year following discharge and to 14 (1%) at two years following injury. At six months following discharge, 992 (43%) patients were not working, this decreased to 726 (36%) at one year and 512 (26%) at two years, which is equivalent to the percentage of patients not working at the time of injury. Conclusions: The NIDRR database provides an expansive repository of injury and outcome data. The database was designed to focus on patient outcome and, therefore, provides a core of data that can be utilized in the analysis of the functional and psychosocial impact of burn injury and for the design of interventions to enhance the quality of life of burn survivors.

Author(s):


Klein, M.B., Lezotte, D.L., Fauerbach, J.A., Herndon, D.N., Kowalske, K.J., Carrougher, G.J., DeLateur, B.J., Holavanahalli, R., Esselman, P.C., Engrav, L.H.

Participating Centers: