Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36038452›Full record

ArticleBurns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries2022

The effect of COVID-19 on burn management and outcomes in a resource-limited setting.

Jared Gallaher, Mustafa Abid, Linda Kayange, Laura Purcell, Anthony Charles

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. The Effect of COVID-19 on Length of Stay in Hospital and Patient Population Following Burn Injury.Journal of burn care & research : official publication of the American Burn Association · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Jared GallaherDepartment of Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Mustafa AbidDepartment of Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Linda KayangeDepartment of Surgery, Kamuzu Central Hospital, Lilongwe, Malawi.
Laura PurcellDepartment of Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Anthony CharlesDepartment of Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Department of Surgery, Kamuzu Central Hospital, Lilongwe, Malawi.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionOptimal burn care includes fluid resuscitation and early excision and grafting. During the COVID-19 pandemic, resource-constrained environments were susceptible to interruptions in burn care. We sought to characterize pre- and intra-pandemic burn-associated outcomes at a busy tertiary hospital in Malawi.

methodsThis is a retrospective analysis of burn patients that presented to Kamuzu Central Hospital Lilongwe from 2011 through December 2021. We compared patients based on whether they presented pre- or intra-pandemic, starting on March 11, 2020, the date of official WHO designation. Comparing these cohorts, we used modified Poisson modeling to estimate the adjusted risk of undergoing an operation and the risk of death.

resultsWe included 2969 patients, with 390 presenting during the pandemic. Patient factors were similar between the cohorts. More patients underwent surgery pre-pandemic (21.1 vs 10.3 %, p < 0.001) but crude mortality was similar at 17.3 % vs. 21.2 % (p = 0.08). The RR of undergoing surgery during the pandemic was 0.45 (95 % CI 0.32, 0.64) adjusted for age, sex, % TBSA, flame burns, and time to presentation. During the pandemic, the risk ratio for in-hospital mortality was 1.23 (95 % CI 1.01, 1.50) adjusted for age, sex, % TBSA, surgical intervention, flame burns, and time to presentation.

conclusionsDuring the pandemic, the probability of undergoing burn excision or grafting was significantly lower for patients, independent of the severity. Consequently, the adjusted risk of mortality was higher. To improve patient outcomes, efforts to preserve operative capacity for burn patients during periods of severe resource constraint are imperative.

Indexed as

BurnsCOVID-19Body Surface AreaBurn UnitsHumansPandemicsRetrospective StudiesTertiary Care CentersBurnCOVID-19PandemicSub-Saharan AfricaTrauma

Identifiers

PMID36038452
PMCPMC9375248

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.