Evaluation of prognostic factors affecting lenght of stay in hospital and mortality rates in acute burn patients.

Burns are considered mostly a serious illness with devastating consequences and prolonged length of hospital stay. Moreover, burns are among the traumatic lesions with the highest costs for care due to their hospitalization time, treatment required and the need for rehabilitation therapy. This study aims to evaluate the factors affecting length of hospital stay and mortality rates in acute burn patients. The study was conducted on 82 patients who presented with acute burn and were admitted to the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department Burn Unit, Tanta University Hospital, in the period from June 2016 to June 2017. A prospective study was carried out using the data of acutely burned patients, and a statistical analysis conducted with the data collected on different factors affecting burn patient length of hospital stay and mortality. The mean age of our patients was 16.5 years, mean LOS was 24.23 days and mortality rate was 9.8% of the total admitted cases, with half of the cases with inhalation injury dying in hospital. The most influencing factors on prediction of length of hospital stay were: incidence of infection, wound depth, TBSA% and inhalation injury. The most influencing factors on patient mortality were: TBSA%, age of the patient, cause of burn and inhalation injury, therefore these factors should be carefully evaluated in every burn patient.