The Causes, Characteristics and Outcomes of Paediatric Farm Burns in Australia and New Zealand.
Marcel Chua, Warwick J Teague, Lincoln M Tracy
PMID 39907165WHAT IT FOUND
Farm burns in children were uncommon but different: mostly boys and older children, small deep contact burns from vehicles or campfires.
They often had delayed admission and inadequate first aid, and more often needed theatre and skin grafting, yet hospital outcomes were similar.
Key findings
01Farm-related burns were rare: 186 of 10 936 paediatric burn admissions, or 1.7%.
02Most farm-related paediatric burns were contact burns caused by vehicles or campfires, and they were more often small but full-thickness.
03Farm-related burns often had inadequate first aid and delayed admission, and more often needed theatre and skin grafting, but hospital outcomes did not differ.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only burns admitted to a burn service were captured, so minor farm burns managed elsewhere may be missing. Farm-related status relied on registry codes and free text, and data quality varied with clinician entry. The registry did not record whether vehicle burns occurred during work or non-work activity. The study collected broad registry data with limited depth, so specific aspects could not be analysed in detail. This is an observational registry comparison, not a trial, so it cannot show that farm exposure or first aid caused outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the higher theatre and grafting rate as evidence that farm burns caused worse hospital outcomes. Intensive care admission, length of stay, discharge home and readmission were similar.