Holiday hazards: burns in children during school holidays. Issue 6 (16th March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tran, Sonia; Holland, Andrew J. A.; Bertinetti, Monique
• Is Part Of: ANZ journal of surgery. Volume 91:Issue 6(2021)
• Page Start: 1159
• Page End: 1163
• Publication Date: 2021-03-16
• Subjects: burn -- child -- holiday -- school; Surgery -- Periodicals; 617.005
• DOI: 10.1111/ans.16746
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1445-1433

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Paediatric burns are preventable injuries that can have a permanent impact on a child's health and wellbeing. The Burns Unit at the Children's Hospital at Westmead appeared to experience an increase in paediatric burn injury referrals during the school holidays. The evaluation of the characteristics of burn injuries in the school holidays compared to the school term may improve the effectiveness of burn prevention programmes. Methods: A retrospective review was performed of all school‐aged children who were referred to our institution between January 2005 and January 2019. Patient details, burn aetiology, burn severity, length of stay and need for grafting were compared between burns sustained during the school holidays and burns sustained during school term. Results: A total of 3020 children were referred to Children's Hospital at Westmead between January 2005 and January 2019. The mean number of burns sustained increased from 3.8 children per week during the school term to 5.4 children per week during school holidays ( P < 0.0001). Contact burns were proportionally more common during school holidays than during the school term (26% versus 19.7%, P < 0.0001), whilst the proportion of scalds decreased significantly during the school holidays (43.5 versus 51.4%, P < 0.0001). There was no difference between mean age, % total body surface area, admission rates, length of stay or skin grafting rates. Conclusion: There is a significant increase in burn injuries among school‐aged children during the school holidays. This highlights the need for targeted education and prevention campaigns in the periods immediately preceding the school holidays. Abstract : A 14‐year single centre retrospective review comparing burns sustained by school‐aged children during the school holiday versus the school term. This study demonstrated that during the school holidays burns are more common, children are more likely to sustain contact burns and are less likely to be supervised at the time of the burn injury. Therefore, there is a need for targeted prevention programmes immediately preceding school holidays.