health

Burns are commonplace injuries worldwide, partly because they have so
many potential causes. In the United States, about one million people
seek treatment for burns in hospital emergency rooms each year. This
figure actually represents a decline from the early 1960s, when the
number was about two million. About 40,000 people are hospitalized for
burn injuries each year rather than being treated as outpatients; of those
admitted to hospitals, 60 percent, or 25,000 people, are sent to one of
the 125 hospitals in the United States with specialized burn centers.
According to the American Burn Association, there are about 4,000
deaths from burns each year in the United States, 3,500 from house fires
and the remaining 500 from automobile and aircraft crashes, contact
with electricity, chemicals or hot liquids and substances. About 75 percent
of these deaths occurred at the scene of the accident or on the way to the
hospital.

Burn injuries vary according to age group:

• Infants and children: most burn injuries in children four years
  and younger are caused by scalds (65 percent) and contact burns
  (20 percent). These injuries often occur when children pull
  pots and pans containing hot food or boiling water from a stove
  top.
• Adolescents and children between the ages of four and fourteen:
  about 88,000 are treated in hospital emergency rooms each year.
  The most common causes in this age group are hair curlers, curling
  irons, room heaters, ovens and ranges, clothing irons, gasoline,
  and fireworks.
• Among adults, men are more likely to require hospitalization for burn
  injuries than women; 70 percent of patients admitted to specialized
  burn centers are male. Forty-three percent of these severe injuries
  occurred at the person’s home; 17 percent on the street or highway;
  8 percent in the workplace; and 32 percent in other locations.