Crime, Violence and Injury Lead Programme, Medical Research Council-University of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa.
BMC Public Health. 2009 Oct 6;9:374. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-9-374.
Burns are a persisting public health problem in low- and middle-income countries; however, epidemiologic data for these settings is scarce. South Africa is no exception although there is an emerging knowledge base, especially for paediatric burns. The current study describes the epidemiology of burn mortality across the lifespan in Cape Town (2.9 million inhabitants in 2001), one of the six South African metropolitan centres.
The distribution of burn mortality across socio-demographic groups and also their circumstances of occurrence were investigated using four year (2001 to 2004) surveillance data from the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (n = 1024 cases).
Burn mortality occurred at a rate of 7.9 per 100,000 person-years (95% CI: 7.3-8.3). Males sustained fatal rates 2.2 times more than that for females (p < 0.001), with rates significantly higher in the 25 to 38 and 39 to 50 age groups than at other ages (p < 0.001). The greatest difference between male and female deaths was observed in the 25 to 38 year age group, when almost three male deaths occurred for every female one. The vast majority of fatal burns were registered as accidental and occurred in the home, either over the cold and wet months or during recreational periods over weekends and across the year. Alcohol intoxication was reported for the majority of those adults whose alcohol blood levels were tested (i.e. 52.6% of cases aged 16+ years).
Besides paediatric burns, the high prevalence and circumstances of occurrence of burns among middle age men are a source of concern. There are reasons to believe that this over-representation is a reflection of detrimental living conditions, life-style and poor socio-economic status. It is recommended that there be greater prioritisation of prevention activities that involve the control or management of kerosene heat sources, the provision of alternatives to flammable housing materials, and the implementation of strategies to reduce harmful drinking practices.
在低收入和中等收入国家，烧伤仍然是一个持续存在的公共卫生问题；然而，这些地区的流行病学数据却很少。南非也不例外，尽管已经有了一个新兴的知识库，特别是针对儿科烧伤。本研究描述了开普敦（2001 年有 290 万居民）整个生命周期内的烧伤死亡率的流行病学情况，开普敦是南非六个大都市中心之一。
利用国家伤害死亡率监测系统（2001 年至 2004 年）的四年监测数据（n = 1024 例），调查了烧伤死亡率在社会人口统计学群体中的分布情况，以及它们发生的情况。
烧伤死亡率为每 100000 人年 7.9 例（95%CI：7.3-8.3）。男性的死亡率是女性的 2.2 倍（p < 0.001），25 至 38 岁和 39 至 50 岁年龄组的死亡率明显高于其他年龄组（p < 0.001）。男性和女性死亡人数之间的最大差异出现在 25 至 38 岁年龄组，此时每发生 3 例男性死亡，就有 1 例女性死亡。绝大多数致命烧伤被登记为意外事故，发生在家里，要么在寒冷潮湿的月份，要么在周末和全年的娱乐时间。对接受酒精血液检测的成年人（即 16 岁及以上人群的 52.6%），大多数报告称酒精中毒。
除了儿科烧伤，中年男性中烧伤的高患病率和发生情况令人担忧。有理由相信，这种代表性过高反映了有害的生活条件、生活方式和较差的社会经济地位。建议更加重视预防活动，包括控制或管理煤油热源、提供易燃住房材料的替代品，以及实施减少有害饮酒行为的战略。
