Characteristics of Burns and Factors Influencing the Severity of Burns among Young-old and Old-old Adults

Kikuchi Nanako, Yamada Ritsuko

doi:10.20696/jagn.22.1_51

<p> We examined the characteristics and factors influencing the severity of burns. 130 patients were categorized into two groups: “younger elderly” (aged 60-74) and “older elderly” (aged 75 or more). We retrospectively investigated the medical and nursing records of the 130 elderly burn patients and categorized 81 of them as younger elderly and 49 of them as older elderly. As underlying medical conditions, ‘peripheral neuropathy’ is significantly higher in the younger elderly, and ‘dementia’ or ‘ocular disorder’ are significantly higher in the older elderly (p<0.05, each). The most frequent burn cause was found to be “high-temperature fluid”, accounting for three out of ten. A greater share of older elderly than younger elderly had burns on their back, and the burn area was greater in the older elderly than in the younger elderly at a median 13.5 (range: 1.0-45.0)%. In addition, a significantly greater share of older elderly [22.4% (p<0.05)] than younger elderly had severe burns. Multi-regression analysis with Burn Index score as the dependent variable showed that “flame” “chest” “right lower leg” “face” and “perceptions of burn” had greater impacts on the younger elderly group (R²=0.593) and that “back” and “flame” had greater impacts on the older elderly group as an environmental factors (R²=0.649).</p><p> We speculate that burn injuries in the elderly could be mitigated not only by raising awareness of burns in daily life but also focusing concern on the living environment including the persons who have a loss of sensory function or dementia.</p>

Characteristics of Burns and Factors Influencing the Severity of Burns among Young-old and Old-old Adults

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