Burn injury outcome differences in Native Americans

The impact of burn injuries on indigenous populations: A literature review

INTRODUCTION

Ethnic minorities experience disparities in prevention and treatment of burn injury. Research focused on burn injuries in Indigenous populations is limited. This review summarizes literature on burn injuries in Indigenous populations to be considered to inform new research.

METHODS

A search was conducted in CINAHL, Ovid MEDLINE, PSYCinfo and SocINDEX. for "burn OR scars OR scald OR deformity OR disfigurement" and "Aboriginal OR Indigenous OR First Nation OR American Indian OR Maori OR Native OR Torres Strait Islander OR Amerindian OR Inuit OR Metis OR Pacific Islander". Inclusion 1) peer reviewed studies of burns in Indigenous persons 2) in English. Exclusion 1) no data specific to Indigenous burns 2) not peer reviewed 3) not in full text 4) protocol publications.

RESULTS

The search identified 1091 studies with 51 for review. Sixteen were excluded. The 35 included publications were published between 1987 and 2022. Findings indicated higher incidence of injury and poorer outcomes amongst Indigenous people. Indigenous people suffered more flame and inhalation burns, had longer lengths of stay, and more complications including hypertrophic scarring. Australian Indigenous patients struggle with a lack of culturally safe communication and support for aftercare.

CONCLUSION

Racial disparities exist in burn injury incidence and outcome for Indigenous persons. Qualitative research in this area will help providers better understand the experiences of Indigenous burn patients to develop more culturally competent care. We are currently developing a study using qualitative hermeneutic methodology to learn about the experiences of Indigenous burn survivors' injuries, recovery, and social reintegration.

Social determinants of health in pediatric scald burns: Is food access an issue?

BACKGROUND

Burn injury risk, severity, and outcomes have been associated with socioeconomic status. Limited data exist to evaluate health access-related influences at a structural population level. This study evaluated factors at the Census-tract level, specifically evaluating food access and social vulnerability in pediatric scald burns.

METHODS

A single-institution retrospective review using the trauma registry and electronic medical record was conducted of pediatric burns between 2016 and 2020. Home address was coded to the Census-tract level and bulk analyzed. Socioeconomic metrics of the home environment were evaluated from publicly available databases, the United States Food and Drug Administration Food Access Research Atlas, and the Centers for Disease Control's Social Vulnerability Index.

RESULTS

There were 840 patients that met inclusion criteria (49.8% scald, N = 418). The mean total body surface area for scalds was 6.6% with an age of 10.2 years; 76% (n = 317) of scalds had Medicaid, and 15% (n = 63) were due to hot noodles. Scalds occurred more in females (45.7%, N = 191 vs 28.0%, N = 118; P < .0001), non-White race (62.7%, N = 262 vs 29.1%, N = 123; P < .0001), and low-income and low-food access populations (39.8%, N = 147 vs 30.4%, N = 116; P = .007). Low-food access Black populations showed increased scald injury (18% [interquartile range 6-35] vs 10% [interquartile range 4-25]), whereas all other populations showed no association. The patients with scalds had a higher overall social vulnerability index (0.67 vs 0.62, P = .008).

CONCLUSION

Often related to poverty, health access, and health equity, population-level social determinants of health like social vulnerability and food access have significant impact on health care and should influence health outreach and systems improvement.

Interventions for Preventing Residential Fires in Vulnerable Neighbourhoods and Indigenous Communities: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Globally, residential fires constitute a substantial public health problem, causing major fire-related injury morbidity and mortality. This review examined the literature on residential fire prevention interventions relevant to Indigenous communities and assessed their effectiveness on mitigating fire incidents and their associated human and economic burden. Electronic databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and Web of Science Core Collection were reviewed for studies on fire prevention interventions published after 1990 and based on the 4E’s of injury prevention approaches (Education, Enforcement, Engineering, and Engagement). The grey literature and sources including indigenous organizational websites were also searched for eligible studies. Two authors independently screened, selected, and extracted data, in consultation with experts in the field. Outcomes measured included enhanced safety knowledge and practices, decreased residential fires incidents, reduced fire-related injuries and deaths, and lowered costs for healthcare needs. After removing duplicates, screening titles and abstracts, and assessing full texts, 81 articles were included in this review. Of the included studies, 29.1% implemented educational interventions within a variety of settings, including schools, community centres and homes, and included healthcare professionals and firefighters to raise awareness and the acquisition of fire safety skills. Engineering and environmental modifications were adopted in 20.2% of the studies with increased smoke alarm installations being the leading effective intervention followed by sprinkler inspections. Moreover, engagement of household members in hands-on safety training proved to be effective in enhancing household knowledge, fire safety decisions and practices. More importantly, effective outcomes were obtained when multi-faceted fire safety interventions were adopted, e.g., environmental modification and educational interventions, which together markedly reduced fire incidents and associated injuries. This review reveals the dearth of fire prevention evidence gathered directly within Indigenous communities. Nonetheless, relevant fire prevention recommendations can be made, calling for the adoption of combined and context-sensitive fire prevention interventions tailored to targeted Indigenous and vulnerable communities through multiple approaches and measures. Follow-ups and longitudinal studies are critical for accurate evaluation of the long-term outcomes and impacts on preventing residential fires.

The Impact of Race/Ethnicity on the Outcomes of Burn Patients: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Racial and ethnic disparities are endemic to the United States and are only beginning to attract the attention of researchers. With an increasingly diverse population, focused and tailored medicine to provide more equitable care is needed. For surgical trauma populations, this topic is a small but expanding field and still rarely mentioned in burn medicine. Disparities in prevention, treatment, and recovery outcomes between different racial and ethnic minorities who are burned are rarely discussed. The purpose of this study is to determine the current status of identified disparities of care in the burn population literature and areas of future research. A systematic review was conducted of literature utilizing PubMed for articles published between 2000-2020. Searches were used to identify articles that crossed the burn term (burn patient OR burn recovery OR burn survivor OR burn care) and a race/ethnicity and insurance status-related term (race/ethnicity OR African-American OR Black OR Asian OR Hispanic OR Latino OR Native American OR Indigenous OR Mixed race OR 2 or more races OR socioeconomic status OR insurance status). Inclusion criteria were English studies in the US that discussed disparities in burn injury outcomes or risk factors associated with race/ethnicity. 1,169 papers were populated, 55 were reviewed, and 36 articles met inclusion criteria. Most studies showed minorities had poorer inpatient and outpatient outcomes. While this is a concerning trend, there is a paucity of literature in this field and more research is needed to create culturally-tailored medical care and address the needs of disadvantaged burn survivors.

Māori health outcomes in an intensive care unit in Aotearoa New Zealand

Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand, and suffer disparate health outcomes compared to non-Māori. Waikato District Health Board provides level III intensive care unit services to New Zealand's Midland region. In 2016, our institution formalised a corporate strategy to eliminate health inequities for Māori. Our study aimed to describe Māori health outcomes in our intensive care unit and identify inequities. We performed a retrospective audit of prospectively entered data in the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society database for all general intensive care unit admissions over 15 years of age to Waikato Hospital from 2014 to 2018 (n = 3009). Primary outcomes were in-intensive care unit and in-hospital mortality. The secondary outcome was one-year mortality. In our study, Māori were over-represented relative to the general population. Compared to non-Māori, Māori patients were younger (51 versus 61 years, P < 0.001), and were more likely to reside outside of the Waikato region (37.2% versus 28.0%, P < 0.001) and in areas of higher deprivation (P < 0.001). Māori had higher admission rates for trauma and sepsis (P < 0.001 overall) and required more renal replacement therapy (P < 0.001). There was no difference in crude and adjusted mortality in-intensive care unit (16.8% versus 16.5%, P = 0.853; adjusted odds ratio 0.98 (95% confidence interval 0.68 to 1.40)) or in-hospital (23.7% versus 25.7%, P = 0.269; adjusted odds ratio 0.84 (95% confidence interval 0.60 to 1.18)). One-year mortality was similar (26.1% versus 27.1%, P=0.6823). Our study found significant ethnic inequity in the intensive care unit for Māori, who require more renal replacement therapy and are over-represented in admissions, especially for trauma and sepsis. These findings suggest upstream factors increasing Māori risk for critical illness. There was no difference in mortality outcomes.

Burn Injuries in Hospitalized Australian Children-An Epidemiological Profile

Globally, First Nations children sustain burns at a higher rate than other children. Little is understood about how health inequities contribute, especially from an Indigenous viewpoint. We analyzed data from the Burns Registry of Australian and New Zealand (BRANZ) for acute burns in children (<16 years) admitted to hospital between October 2009 and July 2018. Descriptive statistics examined equity variables in patient and injury characteristics. Poisson regression was used to describe factors associated with bacterial infection. Indigenous research methods were used throughout. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children represented 10.4% of the study population. Health inequities were present for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with longer hospital length of stay (9.5 vs 4.6 days), rural residency (61.3% vs 13.9%), lower socioeconomic status (72.2% vs 34.9%), and more flame burns (19.5% vs 10.6%) compared to other Australian children. Streptococcus sp. infection risk was four times greater in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children compared to other Australian children. Flame burns and high percentage total body surface area burns were a risk for Staphylococcus sp. and Streptococcus sp. infection in all children. The epidemiological profile for burn injuries managed in Australian burns centers differs between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and other children, indicating persistent health inequities. These differences should be considered in the development of injury prevention strategies and the clinical management of burn injuries for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families.