TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2015//
TI  - Long-term mortality among older adults with burn injury: a population-based study in Australia
JO  - Bulletin of The World Health Organization
A1  - Duke, Janine M.
A1  - Boyd, James H.
A1  - Rea, Suzanne
A1  - Randall, Sean M.
A1  - Wood, Fiona M.
SP  - 400
EP  - 406
VL  - 93
IS  - 6
N2  - OBJECTIVE:  To assess if burn injury in older adults is associated with changes in long-term all-cause mortality and to estimate the increased risk of death attributable to burn injury.  METHODS:  We conducted a population-based matched longitudinal study - based on administrative data from Western Australia's hospital morbidity data system and death register. A cohort of 6014 individuals who were aged at least 45 years when hospitalized for a first burn injury in 1980-2012 was identified. A non-injury comparison cohort, randomly selected from Western Australia's electoral roll (n = 25 759), was matched to the patients. We used Kaplan-Meier plots and Cox proportional hazards regression to analyse the data and generated mortality rate ratios and attributable risk percentages.  FINDINGS:  For those hospitalized with burns, 180 (3%) died in hospital and 2498 (42%) died after discharge. Individuals with burn injury had a 1.4-fold greater mortality rate than those with no injury (95% confidence interval, CI: 1.3-1.5). In this cohort, the long-term mortality attributable to burn injury was 29%. Mortality risk was increased by both severe and minor burns, with adjusted mortality rate ratios of 1.3 (95% CI: 1.1-1.9) and 2.1 (95% CI: 1.9-2.3), respectively.  CONCLUSION:  Burn injury is associated with increased long-term mortality. In our study population, sole reliance on data on in-hospital deaths would lead to an underestimate of the true mortality burden associated with burn injury.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0042-9686
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.14.149146
ID  - ref1
ER  -