Scalds in Pediatric Emergency Department: A 5-Year Experience Ahmet Guzel, MD,* Burhan Aksu, MD,† Hakan Aylanc ¸, MD,* Ridvan Duran, MD,* Serap Karasalihoglu, MD* Scald injuries are the most common type of burn in childhood. The authors’ aim in this study was to determine the characteristics of scald burns and to identify clinical signs and symptoms which help to predict the indications for hospitalization after scalding burn in- jury. All patients were retrospectively evaluated according to gender, ages, cause of burn, burn size and depth, distribution of burn area, first aid given, management, and patient’s outcomes. The factors affecting indication for hospitalization were retrospectively analyzed in 165 patients, 95 males and 70 females aged 1 month to 13 years (mean 2.74  2.44 years), with scalding burn injury. The most common cause of scald injuries were hot water (106 patients) or hot tea and coffee (39 patients). The mean percent of TBSA burned was 10.26  7.26%. Sixty-nine patients had required hospitalization. In the multivariate logistic regression analyses, among study subjects, only age and TBSA were risk factors significantly correlated to hospitalization (P < .001, P < .01, respectively). Prevention of scald injuries will require a two-prolonged approach: educating families and changing the traditional methods of preparing soup, milk, and tea in Turkey and elsewhere. To create effective pro- grams for preventing scald injuries, it is essential to consider ethnic, cultural, socioeco- nomic, and environmental factors based on these characteristics. (J Burn Care Res 2009;30: 450 – 456) Scald burns are an important but preventable cause of injury in children. 1 Ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic, and environmental factors have been reported to af- fect the occurrence of these injuries. 2,3 Therefore, epidemiological studies of burn injuries have high- lighted risk factors that have led to establishment of effective preventive programs. Few researchers have studied burns that present to pediatric emergency departments. In a study by Rawlins et al 4 on the epidemiology and outcome of 208 patients with burn attending the emergency department, they found that 13% of the patients needed to be hospitalized, whereas 3% of patients needed transfer to a burn center, and they con- cluded that more studies about this topic were needed. 5–8 The most frequent types of burn injuries in Turkish children are scald injuries by various liquids, includ- ing hot water used in the traditional tea making sys- tem (two stacked kettles/pots), soup, and hot milk. 9 The Emergency Department of University Hospi- tal Trakya serves a local population of 100,000 people and treats 10,000 patients each year in its pediatric emergency unit (PEU). This study was designed to determine the frequency of patients in our region attending the PEU with scalds and to determine ep- idemiological and etiological features over a long time period, to identify clinical signs and symptoms which help to predict the indications for hospitalization after scalding burn injury, to help in developing targeted preventive programs and cost-effective management strategies against scald injuries in our society. METHODS One hundred and sixty-five patients with scald pre- senting to our PEU between April 2003 and Decem- ber 2007 were retrospectively included in the study. Clinical data, including age and sex of the patient, etiology and site of burns, burn size, first aid given, management, and patient’s outcome after leaving the PEU, were evaluated. From the Departments of *Pediatrics and †Pediatric Surgery, Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, Edirne, Turkey. Address correspondence to Ahmet Guzel, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, 22030, Edirne, Turkey. Copyright © 2009 by the American Burn Association. 1559-047X/2009 DOI: 10.1097/BCR.0b013e3181a28cac 450