Singapore Med J 2012; 53(2) : 124 O riginal A rticle INTRODUCTION Burn injuries represent a signiicant publ ic health concern across the world. In children and young adults, ire-related deaths are one of the leading causes of death. (1) More than 50% of ire-related deaths in the world occur in Southeast Asia, and females in this region have the highest fire-related burn mortality rates. A large number of patients are left with lifelong disabilities and disigurements. (2) Burn injuries are associated with a longer hospital stay compared to other injuries and illnesses, and have signiicant economic consequences. (3,4) A large percentage of burns occur accidentally and are preventable. Effective prevention plans should be based on the study of epidemiological characteristics, demographic features, risk factors and identification of safety pitfalls. (5) Only few epidemiological studies on burn injuries are available from Southeast Asia, (6-8) and no such data are available from Brunei Darussalam. The purpose of this study was to assess the epidemiology of burns patients treated at Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha Hospital (RIPASH), Brunei Darussalam, with particular reference to demographics and aetiology. METHODS This was a retrospective analysis of cases of burns that were treated at the Burns Unit of RIPASH between September 2007 and August 2008. All burn patients attending RIPASH were referred to and treated at the Burns Unit managed by the Department of Orthopaedics till August 2009. The cases of burns are now managed by the Department of Maxillofacial, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Data was recorded by the on-duty nurse on pre-designed forms on the irst attendance at the unit. Data obtained from these forms was entered into an excel worksheet and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 10.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). The results are presented for the whole sample, patients over 15 years, 15 years and below, and below two years of age. The variables of age and total body surface area (TBSA%) affected were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD). A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically signiicant. RESULTS A total of 211 patients were treated at the Burns Unit during the study period. A total of 32 patients were admitted, but details were available for analysis for only ten patients. The remaining patients were treated as outpatients. There were 111 male and 100 female patients in the sample. The distribution of gender according to different groups is given in Table I. The average age of patients was 19.6 ± 20.9 (median 10, range < 1–90) years. 32% of subjects were under two years of age. The age distribution of the sample is shown in Fig. 1. None of the burns in children aged ≤ 15 years were recorded as due to child abuse. Patients with lame burns Epidemiology of burns in a major referral hospital in Brunei Darussalam Pande KC 1 , MCh, MD, Ishak HL 1 , MRCS 1 Department of Orthopaedics, Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha Hospital, Negara Brunei Darussalam Correspondence: Dr Ketan C Pande, Clinical Specialist, Department of Orthopaedics, Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha Hospital, Bandar Seri Begawan BA 1710, Negara Brunei Darussalam. ketanpande@yahoo.com INTRODUCTION Burn injuries are a public health concern across the world, particularly in Southeast Asia, where epidemiological data is lacking. This retrospective study was conducted to assess the epidemiology of patients with burns treated at a major referral hospital in Brunei Darussalam, with particular reference to demographics and aetiology. METHODS All patients were referred to and treated at the Burns Unit, where data was recorded by the on-duty nurse on a pre-designed form at the first attendance. A total of 211 patients (111 male, 100 female), comprising 10 inpatients and 201 outpatients, were treated during the study period. RESULTS The average age of the patients was 19.6 ± 20.9 (median 10, range < 1–90) years. 67 (32%) patients were under two years of age. Scalding due to hot liquids was the most common cause (78.2%), followed by flame and contact burns. The majority of burns were sustained indoors either at home or at work (87.2%). The total body surface area (TBSA%) for the whole sample was 3.7% ± 7.9% (median 2%; range 1%–90%). Patients with flame burns (n = 19) were older and had larger TBSA% (p < 0.05). Inpatients had significantly higher TBSA% compared to outpatients (28.2% ± 26% versus 2.5% ± 2.1%; p < 0.005). CONCLUSION Scald burns sustained indoors are the most common across all age groups. Although the TBSA is small, a large number of children are affected. There is a need for burns prevention education programme in Brunei Darussalam. Keywords: burns, epidemiology, paediatric, prevention Singapore Med J 2012; 53(2): 124–127