Socio-economic and clinical factors predictive of paediatric quality of life post burn injury
Date
2010-06-28T08:10:11Z
Authors
Weedon, Merryn
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Abstract
Trauma is the leading cause of death in children. Burns represent the second most
common cause of accidental death in children under the age of five. Burns are amongst
the most traumatic injuries and may impose significant psychological, educational, social
and future occupational impairments to the young child.
Quality of life post discharge from a South African hospital is poorly researched. It is
also not known whether poor socio-economic factors contribute to the high incidence of
children with burn injuries who are admitted to the Paediatric Burns Unit. This crosssectional
study aims to determine the socio-economic and clinical factors which predict
quality of life in children with burn injuries in a burns unit in South Africa.
The Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) and the Household Economic and
Social Status Index (HESSI) questionnaires were administered to children and their
caregivers one week post discharge and three months post discharge from the Johnson
and Johnson Paediatric Burns Unit, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto.
The findings of this study show that children three month post discharge from a burn
injury have a minimally lower score in quality of life than the expected normal score. The
improvement in the PedsQL overall scores suggests that the quality of life for children is
good despite being burnt. The severity of the burn (partial thickness and full thickness)
was found to be a significant clinical predictor of quality of life (p=0.00). The poor socioeconomic
status was clearly evident in demographic data of the subjects. A marginally
significant socio-economic predictor of quality of life was family problems reported by
some of the mothers (p=0.07). To some extent this highlights the increased risk of burn
injury where there are poor socio-economic circumstances.
Description
MSc Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009
Keywords
children, burns, rehabilitation