Clinical, epidemiological, and management aspects of burn injuries in Saudi Arabia – A cross-sectional study

Background: Burns are a deleterious, but largely preventable health problem foisting physical, economic, social, emotional, and relational issues worldwide. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the King Khalid Hospital and Prince Sultan Center for Health Services, and Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University hospital in Al Kharj in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study included patients who presented themselves to the emergency department of the targeted hospitals with at least one documented burn injury between October 2018 and October 2019. The patients were followed from presentation to discharge. The etiology, location, severity, and options of treatment offered to them were recorded. The SPSS version 22.0 was used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data as means, frequencies, and standard deviations. Categorical variables were compared using the Pearson's chi-square test. Results: 180 patients with burn injuries were included in the study. The majority were adolescents and adults under the age of 40 (n = 171). The prevalence of first-degree burns was 12.8%, that of second-degree burns was 71.1%, and that of third-degree burns was 16.1%. The most common cause, area, and type of treatment were hot water injuries (36.1%), upper limbs (62.2%), and skin debridement respectively. Conclusion: Adolescents and young adults are the most frequently affected by burns while skin debridement was the most common treatment offered to the patients. In this context emergency hospital staff was required to be adequately equipped and trained.