| Background: Burn injuries are considered one of the most preventable public health issue among children;
however, are a cause of significant morbidity and mortality in Iran. The aim of this study was to assess
individual-level predictors of severe burn injuries among children leading to hospitalization, in East Azerbaijan
Province, in North-West of Iran.
Methods: The study was conducted through a hospital based case–control design involving 281 burn victims
and 273 hospital-based controls who were frequency matched on age, gender and urbanity. Both bivariate
and multivariate methods were used to analyze the data.
Results: Mean age of the participants was 40.5 months (95 % CI: 37–44) with the majority of burns occurring
at ages between 2 months-13.9 years. It was demonstrated that with increase in the caregiver’s age there
was a decrease in the odds of burn injuries (OR = 0.94, 95 % CI: 0.92-0.97). According to the multivariate
logistic regression there were independent factors associated with burn injuries including childhood ADHD
(OR = 2.82, 95 % CI: 1.68 - 4.76), child’s age (OR = 0.73, 95%CI: 0.67 - 0.80), flammability of clothing (OR = 1.60, 95 %
CI: 1.12 - 2.28), daily length of watching television (OR = 1.31, 95 % CI: 1.06 - 1.61), playing outdoors (OR = 1.32, 95 % CI:
1.16 - 1.50) and increment in the economic status (OR = 1.37, 95 % CI: 1.18 - 1.60).
Conclusion: Major risk predictors of burn injuries among the Iranian population included childhood ADHD, child’s age,
watching television, playing outdoors, high economic status and flammable clothing. |