Neonatal burns: a 10‐year review of community‐ and hospital‐acquired neonatal burns in Western Australia

Abstract

Background: There are very few studies in the literature focusing on neonatal burns, and to our knowledge this is the largest study on this topic. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted over a 10-year period from 2010 to 2020 to investigate the incidence, mechanisms involved and outcomes for burn injuries in neonates in Western Australia. This study included children aged 4 weeks or younger who sustained a burns injury requiring admission to hospital or during their hospital admission. Premature infants who sustained burns during a hospital admission in the neonatal intensive care unit and were under 4 weeks corrected age were also included. Short-term outcomes of burn injuries included infection and need for surgery, and the long-term outcomes included scarring and requirement for laser therapy. Results: Over the 10-year period, 30 burn injuries were sustained by 27 neonates. Thirteen (43.3%) of these burns occurred at home or in the community, and 17 (56.7%) occurred in hospital. Scalds (n = 4) and sunburn (n = 4) were the most common mechanism in the community, while chemical (n = 12) burns including extravasation injuries were the most common sustained in hospital. No neonates required theatre for skin grafting or laser therapy for scarring. There were no infected burns in the cohort. Time to healing ranged from 2 to 62 days with a mean of 12.1 days. Conclusion: Outcomes for burns sustained in the neonatal period in Western Australia are generally positive, and have not been associated with infection and have low rates of scarring.