Background: Management of burns is a critical aspect of trauma care and understanding trends can provide valuable insights into improving patient outcomes and resource allocation. This study examines trends in the management of burns in Australia from 2012 to 2022.
Methods: Procedure, admission and diagnosis data captured between 2012 and 2022 were collected from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Medicare Benefits Schedule. Simple linear regression evaluated trends over the ten-year period.
Results: From 2012 to 2022, 485,959 burns were surgically managed in Australia. Most patients were male (64.1%), aged 40-59 years (21%). Operations for burns included debridement, dressings, skin grafting and repair. The overall number of procedures show a steady increase from 2012 to 2022, with a significant increase in the number of repair procedures (p < 0.001). All age groups showed an increasing trend of burns procedures but the most notable increases were seen in the <5, 25-39 and 40-59 age groups (p<0.001 for all). The hospital length of stay did not significantly increase for all procedures in the 10-year period except for repair procedures (p=0.0046).
Conclusion: Over the last decade, there has been a steady increase in all procedures performed for burns, particularly repair procedures, possibly indicating improved access to burn care. Notably, the increase in overall procedures has not led to a proportional increase in the length of stay for most procedures, except for repair procedures. This suggests a more efficient and effective management of burns over this decade.