The epidemiology and outcome of burn injuries in Iran: A ten-year systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

\n Background: Burns, has always been one of the most catastrophic injuries. More than 3000000 people lose their lives every year due to burn and its results. Burn injury is the seventh major cause of disease burden of injuries in Iran. The evidence clearly shows that burns are preventable. It is necessary to update existing information and a more detailed assessment of burn aspects. Material-Method: Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Embase databases were searched for published studies from Jan. 2010 to Dec. 2020, with the MeSH term ‘Burns’ and keywords such as burn, burn injury, burn injuries, Iran, epidemiology, and epidemio* combined by OR; AND, for published retrospective studies that focus on the epidemiology of burns in Iran. Results: Our systematic search identified seventeen studies containing epidemiological characteristics of burn injuries in Iran with a total number of 61662 patients. Results revealed that: The highest and lowest percentage of the burn was related to the age group of 20-29 and 0-9 years and 50-59 years; men were burned more than women. The urban residents and the person under the diploma have experienced more burns; married and single people were equally burned; burns caused by flame occurred more than the other cause of burn; male and female were burned almost equally by flame; Contact and electrical burns in men were more than women; most burn accidents occurred at home and winter; 14/23 % patient were expired, and men were discharged more than women but the death rate was higher in women.Conclusion: We conclude that burn injuries are common indoors, caused by flames, and in young patients with a low educational state, and the overall mortality of female burn victims is more remarkable than male burn victims. On the other hand, the mean TBSA of burn patients in Iran was 31%, and the mean rate of mortality was 14%, both of which are greater than the statistics reported by WHO. This review shows that further research is required to summarize the situation and the effectiveness of any preventive interventions.