Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39935153›Full record

Observational studySouth African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care2025

Characteristics of paediatric burn injuries seen in the tertiary emergency centre, South Africa.

Ntsovelo Mugwena, Rule Human, Maria M Geyser

Abstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Ntsovelo MugwenaDepartment of Family Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria Department of Family Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital, Pretoria. tearsntsovelo@yahoo.com.
Rule Human
Maria M Geyser

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundBurn injuries cause significant morbidity and mortality, with prevalence in developing countries such as South Africa. This study aimed to determine the characteristics and referral patterns of burn injuries.

methodsA retrospective observational study was conducted in a single emergency centre, Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital, from 01 January 2021 to 31 December 2021. The study included patients 13 years with burn injuries.

resultsA total of 266 patients were identified. Males (n = 144, 54.1%) had a higher prevalence of incurring burn injuries. The majority of injuries were secondary to scald burns (n = 237, 89.1%). A total of 208 (78.2%) patients had a percentage of total body surface area (%TBSA) of 10%, and 257 (96.6%) had superficial partial-thickness burns. Only 77 (28.9%) cases were from referral centres and there was no relationship between referral pattern and %TBSA. Majority (n = 248, 93.2%) received no pre-hospital wound care. Only 108 (40.6%) patients were admitted and the median length of hospital stay (interquartile range [IQR]) was 7 days (2 to 9). There was a significant relationship between the length of hospital stay and %TBSA burns (p  0.001).

conclusionThe pattern of burn injuries in patients is similar to previous studies carried out predominantly in townships in South Africa. Most referrals were found to be appropriate and complied with institutional burn injury admission protocol, although pre-hospital wound care was inadequate.Contribution: Primary burn injury care is vital to reduce morbidity and mortality, and development of programmes for public awareness of burn injuries remains crucial.

Indexed as

BurnsEmergency Service, HospitalAdolescentBody Surface AreaChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansInfantLength of StayMalePrevalenceReferral and ConsultationRetrospective StudiesSouth AfricaTertiary Care Centersburn characteristicsburns outcomeburn wound carepaediatric burnsreferral patternsSouth Africa

Identifiers

PMID39935153
PMCPMC11830831

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