Socio-economic and clinical factors predictive of paediatric quality of life post burn injury

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.