Epidemiology of burns in Taiwan: a nationwide report including inpatients and outpatients.

[INTRODUCTION] The aim of the study is to understand the incidence of burns among outpatients and inpatients of Taiwan in 2010. Characteristics of the burned patients were also studied in terms of gender, age, burn sites, burn degree, reconstructive surgical treatment, as well as which specialty and medical facility they are treated in.

[METHODS] Burned patients were identified from the 1,000,000-person cohort dataset sampled from the Taiwan National Health Insurance database. Ones who had been hospitalized with discharge diagnoses related to burns were categorized as inpatients and others who had only ambulatory visits and emergency room visits were classified as outpatients.

[RESULTS] 7630 burn-injury patients were found, presenting an annual incidence of burns as 670.8/10(5) in males (n=3303) and 852.5/10(5) in females (n=4327). Only 3.4% (156 males and 107 females) of them were hospitalized. Higher incidence of burns were found in females and young children, while males and the elderly tended to have more severe burns, based on high-degree burns, admission rate, and incidence of hospitalizations for burns.

[CONCLUSION] This is a population-based study demonstrating the epidemiology of burns among outpatients and inpatients in Taiwan, leading us closer to the reality of burns treated in different settings of medical facilities.