**4. Etiology of burn injuries**

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

#### **5. Mortality from burn injuries**

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 of burn are all considered as risk factors for mortality [5–8, 10]. Flame burns are in general more fatal than contact burns. Mortality from burn injury is most commonly related to multiorgan failure and sepsis. Pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are also associated with mortality [5, 8, 11].
