The Epidemiology of Emergency Department-Treated Burn Injuries Associated with Portable Heaters in the United States, 2003-2013.

The purpose of this study is to examine the epidemiology of portable space heater-related burn injuries among an emergency department nationally representative population of the United States. The data analyzed in this study were collected from the Consumer Products Safety Commission's 2003-2013 National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. There were approximately 53,636 space heater-related thermal burn injuries attributed to portable space heaters from 2003 to 2013. The rate of injuries was relatively constant during the 10-year span. The number of burn injuries was highest during winter months. Young children, older adults, males, and Blacks had the highest rates of injury. The body part most commonly injured was the hand, which accounted for 33.3% of all burn injuries. It is important to understand the characteristics of persons who have an increased risk of portable space heater burn and trip/fall injuries, so that preventative methods and awareness strategies can be used to help reduce the number of annual portable space heater injuries.