Epidemiological investigation of 511 adult inpatients with gas burns

Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of adult inpatients with gas burns in the Department of Burns of Hwa Mei Hospital of University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the author′s unit) , so as to provide evidence for the prevention of gas burn. Methods Medical records of all inpatients with flame burns admitted to the author′s unit from January 2011 to December 2017 were collected. The percentage of adult inpatients with gas burns in total inpatients with flame burns in the same period, and their gender, age, injury season, accident place, burn severity, common compound injury, complication, population caliber, education, industry, as well as the pre-injury disease and prognosis of elderly inpatients with gas burns were retrospectively analyzed. In addition, the age, accident place, education, and industry of the floating population in the adult inpatients with gas burns were analyzed separately and compared with the total population of adult inpatients with gas burns in 7 years. Data were processed with chi-square test or Fisher′s exact probability test (Monte Carlo algorithm). Results During the 7 years, 1 490 inpatients with flame burns were admitted to the author′s unit, among which 511 were adult inpatients with gas burns, accounting for 34.30%. The number of adult inpatients with gas burns increased gradually during the 7 years, but its percentage in the total inpatients with flame burns during the same period showed no significant difference (

²=7.087,

>0.05). Among the 511 adult inpatients with gas burns (hereinafter referred to as the patients in this group), there were 315 males and 196 females, with a male/female ratio of 1.61 to 1.00, and the middle-aged patients were the most, up to 270 cases, accounting for 52.84%. The distribution of adult inpatients with gas burns during the 7 years was significantly different in gender and age (

²=54.810, 27.832,

<0.01). Among the patients in this group, most were injured in summer, totally 251 cases, accounting for 49.12%, and the accident place was mainly at home, totally 388 cases, accounting for 75.93%. The distribution of adult inpatients with gas burns during the 7 years was significantly different in injury season (

²=42.254,

<0.01), but not in accident place (

²=6.782,

>0.05). The patients in this group were mainly with moderate burns (237 cases, accounting for 46.38%), and the distribution trend of burn severity of adult inpatients with gas burns was basically the same during the 7 years (

²=19.680,

>0.05); 176 patients (34.44%) were accompanied by inhalation injury, and 30 patients (5.87%) were accompanied by blast injury of lung; post injury complications occurred in 20 patients (3.91%). In the elderly inpatients with gas burns, 44.44% (32/72) were accompanied by pre-injury basic diseases, and the proportion of death or unhealed reached 18.06% (13/72). Most of the patients in this group were permanent residents (358 cases, accounting for 70.06%) and received secondary education (304 cases, accounting for 59.49%), and the majority of them were engaged in manufacturing/construction (138 cases, accounting for 27.01%), self-employed business (90 cases, accounting for 17.61%), and catering (90 cases, accounting for 17.61%) industries. The distribution of adult inpatients with gas burns during the 7 years was significantly different in population caliber, education, and occupation (

²=17.496, 29.898, 88.896,

<0.05 or

<0.01). Among the patients of this group, the floating population were mainly young (90 cases, accounting for 58.82%) and middle-aged (62 cases, accounting for 40.52%), with main accident place at home (97 cases, accounting for 63.40%), generally received secondary education (101 cases, accounting for 66.01%), and were mainly engaged in manufacturing/construction (71 cases, accounting for 46.41%), self-employed business (26 cases, accounting for 16.99%), and catering (20 cases, accounting for 13.07%) industries. Compared with the total adult inpatients with gas burns in 7 years, the floating population were younger, more injured in the workplace, and more concentrated in industry (

²=42.924, 9.390, 27.819,

<0.01). Conclusions Gas burn was the leading injury cause of inpatients with flame burns in the author′s unit, which mainly occurred in summer and at home; the patients were mainly male, young and middle-aged, and permanent residents, most of which were with moderate burn, often accompanied by inhalation injury. Most of the patients were of secondary education, engaged in manufacturing/construction, self-employed business, and catering industries, among which the floating population were younger, more injured in the workplace, and more concentrated in industry. In order to prevent gas burn, we should pay more attention to the propaganda and education of gas safety among young and middle-aged men, floating population, retired old people and housewives, especially in summer, we should do a good job in gas safety inspection at home. In addition, we should urge enterprises to further strengthen the supervision of production safety.