The temporal trend and distribution of burns in Taiwan

Objectives: The aims of this study were to describe the trends of incidence rate and mortality rate of burn injuries over a long period of time, and to understand the characteristics of the distributions for different severity levels of burns. The effect of prevention programs and medical care for burns was also evaluated. Methods: By using 1992-2001 Health and Vital Statistics data and the 1996-2001 National Health Insurance (NHI) Research Database, we counted the numbers of death and causes of burns. We aslo calculated the incidence rate of catastrophic, hospitalized and ambulatory burn injuries. Results: From 1992 to 2001, the overall mortality rate of burn injuries in Taiwan decreased by 54.23%. The mortality rate from flame burns decreased the most. The incidence rate of catastrophic and hospitalized burns decreased by 28.76% and 6.75%, respectively. However, the ambulatory burns increased by 42 times over a 6-year period between 1996-2001. The percentage of hospitalized burn deaths decreased by 18.18%. The proportions of different severity levels of burns (dead: catastrophic: hospitalized: ambulatory= 1: 1.7: 21.3: 174.7) consisted of different shaped pyramids. These shapes became wider over time. Conclusions: The overall mortality rate of burn injuries and incidence rate of catastrophic and hospitalized burns showed a decreasing trend, whereas, the incidence rate of ambulatory burns showed an increasing trend. The overall prevention and medical care for burns displayed some effect. In the future, attention should be paid to the prevention of minor burns, which cause a great deal of ambulatory care.