A CHARACTERIZATION OF PEDIATRIC BURN INJURY PATIENTS PRESENTING TO A ZONAL REFERRAL HOSPITAL IN NORTHERN TANZANIA.

Abstract

Burn injuries disproportionately impact children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with Sub-Saharan Africa bearing the highest burden. While pediatric injury research in LMICs is growing, data on pediatric burn injuries and associated mortality in LMICs remains limited. The objective of this study was to describe a cohort of pediatric burn injury patients from a pediatric injury registry in Northern Tanzania including the epidemiology, clinical presentation, pre-hospital factors, and clinical outcomes. We conducted a retrospective observational study of burn injury patients from a pediatric injury registry at a tertiary zonal referral hospital in Northern Tanzania. We evaluated patient demographics, emergency department presentation, and inpatient data. Study outcomes included ICU admission, in-hospital mortality, and morbidity at discharge. Differences in statistics were evaluated with ANOVA/t-test, chi-square tests, or Fisher's exact tests. We assessed associations with ICU stay, in-hospital mortality, and morbidity by reporting adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals from multivariable logistic regression models. 133 pediatric burn patients were enrolled between November 2020 and August 2024. Sixty-eight patients were female (51%) and most were aged five years or younger (81.9%). Scalds were the most common injury. The in-hospital mortality rate was 22.6%. Burn severity was independently associated with all three study outcomes. Pediatric burn mortality was high with burn severity predicting poor outcomes. This study highlights the urgent need to address gaps in burn injury prevention, community education on timely burn care, and pre-hospital and referral systems for pediatric burn patients in Northern Tanzania.