Electrical burn injury: a comparison of outcomes of high voltage versus low voltage injury in an Indian scenario.

Electrical burn injury (EBI) is a mutilating form of injury. The objective of this study was to evaluate the various aspects of EBI and analyse the differences between high voltage injury (HVI) and low voltage injury (LVI). A retrospective study was conducted by reviewing the medical records of all burn admissions from June 2016 to May 2017. A total of 1572 patients were admitted, of which 385 (24.49%) had suffered an electrical injury. 104 (27.01%) patients sustained LVI and 281 (72.98%) HVI. One hundred patients from both groups were randomly selected using the chit method, in order to analyse their differences. In our study, the mean age was 35.23±19.96 in the HVI group and 24.15±14.39 years in the LVI group. Most of the injuries were work related. Events during the early phase of admission included a rise in serum creatine phosphokinases, myoglobinuria, renal failure, abnormal cardiac events and other concomitant injuries in the HVI group (p<0.001). Unfavourable outcomes in the form of amputations, prolonged hospital stay and high mortality rate were observed in the HVI group (8.5%) (p<0.027). However, LVI cannot be overlooked as number of reconstructive surgeries and mean number of operations showed no significant difference between both groups. HVI has a disastrous impact on burn survivors but LVI cannot be underestimated. We advocate a low threshold for managing associated injuries, education on safety principles, for men at work especially, and infrastructure improvement by the state to bring changes to the present scenario.