ArticleBurns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries2024
The treatment effect of operative intervention for flame versus scald burns in resource-limited settings.
Article in Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Financing of Trauma and Burn Prevention and Care in Malawi: A Scoping Review.Health science reports · 2026Review
- Selective Early Excision Versus a Conservative Surgical Approach. Management of Deep Burn Injury in a Resource-Restricted Setting: A Prospective, Observational Study.World journal of surgery · 2026Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionIn resource-limited environments, it is critical to triage burn patients most likely to benefit from operative intervention. This study sought to identify patients with a more significant treatment effect after operative intervention following burn injury at a tertiary burn center in Lilongwe, Malawi.
methodsThis is a retrospective analysis of burn patients presenting to Kamuzu Central Hospital from 2011 to November 2022. We compared patients based on whether they had scald or flame burns. Using logistic regression, we estimated the adjusted treatment effect of operative intervention on in-hospital mortality. Operative intervention was defined as burn excision and debridement with or without skin grafting.
resultsWe included 3266 patients. 2099 (64.7 %) patients had a scald burn, and 1144 (35.3 %) had a flame burn. 630 patients (19.3 %) underwent surgery. Crude mortality among all patients was 18.1 %, and for patients who underwent surgery, it was 9.7 %. When adjusted for total body surface area burned (TBSA) and age, the average treatment effect of surgery on mortality was - 0.07 (95 % CI - 0.11, - 0.033) for patients with scald burns and - 0.17 (95 % CI - 0.22, - 0.11) for patients with flame burns (Fig. 1). For patients with flame burns, the adjusted odds ratio of death associated with surgery was 0.26 (95 % CI 0.17, 0.39).
conclusionsOperative intervention confers a survival advantage for patients with flame burns, and the average treatment effect was more significant compared to patients with scald burns. In general, in resource-limited environments flame burns should be prioritized for surgery over scald burns to improve patient outcomes.
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