Burned children: a socioeconomic profile for focused prevention programs.

A review of 197 consecutive admissions of children 16 years of age and under to the Western Pennsylvania Hospital Burn/Trauma Center during a 28-month period (January 1984-April 1986) found that the majority of these children came from economically disadvantaged homes and that scalding was the most frequent mechanism of injury. Black children, poor children, and children of single parents were disproportionally represented in the study population compared with a similar-aged population in the hospital's referral area. By identifying a specific group of children who are at highest risk of being burned, and by determining the burn injuries these children are most likely to sustain, the study makes it possible to realistically tailor burn prevention programs to meet the specific social and economic characteristics of the group at highest risk.