Factors affecting length of stay among pediatric and adult patients admitted to the Lebanese Burn Centre: a retrospective study.

Burn injuries are serious lesions requiring specialized medical care, and are associated with prolonged length of hospital stay (LOS). This study aims to elucidate the epidemiological and clinical factors affecting the LOS of pediatric and adult patients with burn wounds. A single-centre retrospective study was conducted at the Hopital Libanais Geitawi Burn Centre in Lebanon. Medical records of patients admitted to the centre between January 2014 and December 2018 were retrieved. Epidemiological and clinical data, such as age, gender, LOS, co-morbidities, and clinical burn and operative characteristics were collected and subjected to statistical analysis. A total of 321 adult and 154 pediatric patients met the inclusion criteria. Mean LOS in the total population was 23.58 days. Univariate analysis revealed inconsistent correlations between the studied factors and the LOS of pediatric and adult patients. Factors positively affecting both populations were: undergoing an operation, number of operations, burn degree, infection, blood transfusion, and need for burn excision and grafting. Additionally, among pediatric patients LOS significantly increased with age, total body surface area (TBSA) burn wound, cause of burn, sepsis, wound dressing under anaesthesia, and escharotomy. On the other hand, female gender and fever were significant additional positive influencers of adult LOS. Multivariate analysis showed that both pediatric and adult LOS was significantly associated to number of operations, need for burn excision and skin grafting, and receiving a blood transfusion. Adult LOS was further affected by mechanical ventilation, infection and age. Our study demonstrated the differential influence of epidemiological and clinical factors among adult and pediatric populations, which allows better prediction of LOS and management of patients with burn injuries.