Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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An increasing aging population alongside a potentially increasing injury risk emphasizes a critical need for evidence-based burn care regarding preventive and therapeutic strategies tailored to the unique needs of older adults. However, we note a critical gap in understanding geriatric burn trends on a global scale and the care capacity across settings. Thus, this study sought to ascertain the global trend of geriatric burns with a focus on patient demographics, injury characteristics, capacities of care, and injury outcomes. ⋯ Burn injuries in older adults remain a public health issue. On the preventive aspect, the results demonstrate a need to intensify safety in the home or domestic setting, and during festive seasons. Therapeutically, the findings underscore a need to consider the inclusion of more specialist geriatric and palliative care services in the burn management process. Additionally, we identified a need to strengthen burn care capacity in the AFRO and SEARO regions.
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Burn patients receiving split thickness skin grafting are left with scarring and chronically dysfunctional grafted skin. Given evidence that patients' preoperative expectations mediate postoperative outcomes and satisfaction, we described burn patients' experience, expectations, and satisfaction with their skin graft, their views towards a cell based clinical trial to improve their graft and identified graft outcome measures for use in future studies. ⋯ Outcome measures in trials advancing skin grafting should reflect chronic, patient prioritized limitations. We recommend preoperative educational interventions for burn patients receiving grafting to improve postoperative satisfaction.
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Frostbite is an insidious disease that normally affects people of cold climates. Winter Storm Uri, which occurred from February 12-20, 2021, created unique metrological conditions for Texas. It caused prolonged sub-freezing temperatures and led to rolling blackouts, affecting 2.8 million Texans including 300,000 people in San Antonio. We report 13 frostbite patients admitted to one burn center during this event. ⋯ In a region unaccustomed and perhaps unprepared to deal with winter storms, the population is particularly vulnerable to frostbite. Lack of awareness of frostbite injuries likely led to the delay in the presentation of patients, which prevented the timely use of tPA. Increasing public awareness may increase readiness.
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To assess the readability, accountability, and quality of burns first aid information available online. ⋯ Much of the burns first aid information available online is written above the recommended reading level and fails to meet standards of accountability or quality.
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Skin scarring is a frequent complication of the wound healing process. Bacterial contamination and prolonged inflammation in wounds are thought to play significant roles during scar formation, but little is known about their specific mechanisms of action. In this study, hypertrophic scar derived fibroblasts (HSFs) and paired normal skin derived fibroblasts (NSFs) were used to evaluate the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on inflammation-induced skin scarring and explore the inflammation-mediated mechanism of activity of LPS on dermal fibroblasts. ⋯ Blocking Myd88 expression with T6167923 downregulated the expression of Col I, Col III, and α-SMA, whereas activating Myd88 expression with CL075 significantly upregulated their expression in LPS-treated NSFs. LPS was found to delay wound healing and increase skin scarring in cell and mouse models. These results showed that LPS could induce scar formation through the TLR4/Myd88 signaling pathway in dermal fibroblasts, suggesting that the downregulation of excessive inflammation in wound tissues inhibits skin scarring and improves scar appearance.