Abstract
Background Pediatric burns significantly impact the short-term health-related quality of life (HRQL) of children. Knowledge regarding the long-term impact is scarce. We therefore evaluated the parent-reported HRQL in pediatric burn patients 5 to 7 years after burns. Methods We invited parents of eligible children admitted to a Dutch Burn Center between August 2011 and September 2012. This sample was enriched with children with severe burns (> 10% of total body surface area [TBSA] burned) admitted between January 2010 and March 2013. The EQ-5D was completed by parents 5 to 7 years postburn. Outcomes and predictive factors were studied and compared between children with minor/moderate and severe burns. Results We included 130 children (mean TBSA burned 7%): 102 children with mild/intermediate burns and 28 with severe burns. Mean EQ-5D summary was 0.96 and EQ visual analogue scale (VAS) 93.1. These outcomes were significantly better in children with minor/moderate burns (0.97; 94.4) compared with children with severe burns (0.93; 88.3) (p < 0.05). Nineteen percent of the children with minor/moderate burns and 43% of those with severe burns reported any problems. The most frequently reported problem was anxiety/depression for both groups. Pain/discomfort (p = 0.012) and cognition (p = 0.035) were statistically significantly worse in children with severe burns compared with those with minor/moderate burns. Full thickness burns and number of surgeries were found to predict long-term HRQL impairment. Conclusion Five to seven years postburn, the majority of children in our study (76%) did not experience long-term problems with HRQL. In a minority of the children, burns showed to have a prolonged negative impact, especially in those being severely burned and who had to undergo surgery for their burns. Most experienced problems were related to anxiety/depression. These important insights could be used to inform children and their parents about the expected long-term HRQL after pediatric burns.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 219-227 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | European Journal of Pediatric Surgery |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 26 Jul 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Members of the Burden of Burn Injuries Study Group include: ME van Baar, S Polinder, MK Nieuwenhuis, NEE van Loey, E Middelkoop, JA Haagsma, A Pijpe, CH van der Vlies, I Spronk. We also thank all participants for their collaboration and the Burden of Disease group (MM Stoop, AA Boekelaar, N Trommel, J Hiddingh, J Meijer, M Akkerman, and I Spronk) and the Dutch Burn Repository group (A Boekelaar, A Pijpe, D Roodbergen, MM Stoop, PPM van Zuijlen, J Dokter, A van Es, CH van der Vlies, GIJM Beerthuizen, J Eshuis, J Hiddingh, SMHJ Scholten-Jaegers, ME van Baar, TM Haanstra, E Middelkoop, MK Nieuwenhuis, A Novin) for their cooperation, data collection and support. We thank the Dutch Burns Foundation Beverwijk for funding this research and Red Cross Hospital Beverwijk, Martini Hospital Groningen, and Maasstad Hospital Rotterdam for their support.
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