Abstract
Background Pediatric burns significantly impact the short-term health-related quality of life
(HRQL) of children. Knowledge regarding the long-term impact is scarce. We therefore
evaluated the parent-reported HRQL in pediatric burn patients 5 to 7 years after burns.
Methods We invited parents of eligible children admitted to a Dutch Burn Center between August
2011 and September 2012. This sample was enriched with children with severe burns
(> 10% of total body surface area [TBSA] burned) admitted between January 2010 and
March 2013. The EQ-5D was completed by parents 5 to 7 years postburn. Outcomes and
predictive factors were studied and compared between children with minor/moderate
and severe burns.
Results We included 130 children (mean TBSA burned 7%): 102 children with mild/intermediate
burns and 28 with severe burns. Mean EQ-5D summary was 0.96 and EQ visual analogue
scale (VAS) 93.1. These outcomes were significantly better in children with minor/moderate
burns (0.97; 94.4) compared with children with severe burns (0.93; 88.3) (p < 0.05). Nineteen percent of the children with minor/moderate burns and 43% of those
with severe burns reported any problems. The most frequently reported problem was
anxiety/depression for both groups. Pain/discomfort (p = 0.012) and cognition (p = 0.035) were statistically significantly worse in children with severe burns compared
with those with minor/moderate burns. Full thickness burns and number of surgeries
were found to predict long-term HRQL impairment.
Conclusion Five to seven years postburn, the majority of children in our study (76%) did not
experience long-term problems with HRQL. In a minority of the children, burns showed
to have a prolonged negative impact, especially in those being severely burned and
who had to undergo surgery for their burns. Most experienced problems were related
to anxiety/depression. These important insights could be used to inform children and
their parents about the expected long-term HRQL after pediatric burns.
Keywords
burn injuries - children - adolescents - health-related quality of life - proxy-reported
outcomes
