Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Patients with self-inflicted burns (SIB) are thought to have a longer length of stay compared to patients with accidental burns. However, other predictors for a longer length of stay are often not taken into account, e.g. percentage of the body surface area burned, age or comorbidities. Therefore, we wanted to study the outcome of patients with SIB at our burn center. ⋯ With the right and timely treatment, differences in mortality rate or length of stay in hospital could all be explained by the severity of the burn and the intention of the patient.
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Often discovered late during the clinical course of burns, bone loss is widely accepted by clinicians as a de facto consequence of burn. Literature on this bone loss is limited and contradictory in details. More insight into the prevalence and magnitude of bone loss may facilitate its prevention. ⋯ Total femur and femoral neck T-scores exhibited a significant similar pattern with smaller differences across the two groups. The density scores also showed a significant reverse relationship to the total body surface area (TBSA) of burn (P<0.003). Our results indicate that thermal burn victims have lower bone density and higher prevalence of osteoporosis than their healthy counterparts and that this difference is significant enough to justify screening in these patients which requires further longitudinal studies to institute.