TY - JOUR PY - 2019// TI - Impulsiveness and burn patients JO - Burns: journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries A1 - Palmu, Raimo A1 - Partonen, Timo A1 - Suominen, Kirsi A1 - Vuola, Jyrki SP - 63 EP - 68 VL - 45 IS - 1 N2 - OBJECTIVE: Impulsiveness is a tendency to act quickly based on a whim without reflection or consideration of consequences. We studied its correlations with burn variables and mental disorders among burn patients.

METHODS: Consecutive acute burn patients (N=107) admitted to the Helsinki Burn Center were assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV mental disorders (SCID) at baseline and at 6 months. All patients filled out the 30-item Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), the most commonly administered self-report measure and a standard point of reference in research on impulsiveness.

RESULTS: The mean total score of BIS-11 was 64.5 (range 41.0-87.8, SD±6.9). There was not a significant correlation between impulsiveness and a range of characteristics of burn injury (all p-values>0.05). We found a significant correlation between some pre-burn mental disorders and impulsiveness, alcohol dependence and attentional impulsiveness (OR=1.22, p=0.022), any personality disorder and non-planning impulsiveness (OR=1.21, p=0.005), and antisocial personality disorder and motor impulsiveness (OR=1.35, p=0.043). Patients with high impulsiveness (total score >65) more often than those with low impulsiveness (≤65), had pre-burn mental disorders such as major depressive disorder (22.6% vs. 8.6%, p=0.046), alcohol dependence (46.9% vs. 25.9%, p=0.023), or other substance dependence (12.2% vs. 1.7%, p=0.028).

CONCLUSION: Impulsiveness had a significant correlation with mental disorders but not with burn-related variables. Therefore the role of impulsiveness in burn injuries should not be investigated independently without first accounting for the role of mental disorders.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0305-4179 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.burns.2018.08.017 ID - ref1 ER -