**6. Ethical issues**

**2. Epidemiology of burn injuries and risk factors for burns**

ments are all reported to be risk factors for burn injury [4, 7, 9, 10].

**3. Severity of burn injuries**

4 Hot Topics in Burn Injuries

**4. Etiology of burn injuries**

and flash lasers can also result in burn injury [5].

**5. Mortality from burn injuries**

Burns constitute a major health problem worldwide. Considerable amount of patients suffer or die from burn injuries globally. The burns mostly occur in low- and middle-income regions of the world [1, 4, 5]. Burn injuries occur more commonly in men at young adult age [5–8]; however, in elderly, female predominance is seen [5, 6, 8]. Alcohol usage, smoking, presence of open fire source or ground level stoves, wearing high-risk cloths (long, loose-fitting, synthetic), improper temperature setting of water heaters, use of unsafe electrical equipment, use of kerosene lamps, low socioeconomic status, overpopulation, illiteracy, unemployment, belonging to a large and single-parent family, and housing without adequate health and safety require-

Fortunately, most of the burn injuries fall into mild cases that can be treated in community or in outpatient clinics. However, depending on the severity of the condition, hospitalization or treatment in intensive care unit may be needed [5, 6, 8]. Severity of a burn injury depends on the extent of burned area (expressed as the percentage of total body surface area (TBSA)), depth of tissue damage, presence or absence of inhalation injury, mechanism of injury, age of the patient, and accompanying comorbidities [8]. Median TBSA of all burn cases was reported as 15%, and severe burn injuries constitute less than 10% of total burns [5, 6, 8]. Mostly children, women, and elderly people are affected by severe burns. Low socioeconomic status and being from ethnic minorities are considered as risk factors for experiencing severe burns [5]. Inhalation injury

is seen in less than 4% of cases and more likely to be observed in extensive burns [8].

Burn injuries can result from diverse etiologies including flames, scalds, contact, electricity, chemicals, or even sunlight. The mechanism may differ according to the sex, age, residence, ethnicity, and admittance status (admitted or non-admitted) of the patient. In general, scald, flame, and contact are the major mechanisms for burns [5–7, 10]. Electrical and chemical burns occur less frequently. Other than the abovementioned mechanisms, many other causes including sunburn

Mortality rate from burn injuries differs among different studies and is reported between 1.4 and 18% [5, 6]. Older age, high extent of burned surface, concomitant illnesses, the presence of inhalation injury, African-American race, urban practice setting, and facial location In all, but especially pediatric and elderly burns, legal and ethical issues should be considered. As abuse and maltreatment may go unnoticed, identification of suspicious injuries by the physician is important. Delayed referral, suspicious and unreliable history, inconsistent explanations of parents or caregivers, tap water injury, and the presence of immersion lines are some of the clues that should raise the suspicion of abuse [3, 12, 13].
