Pediatrician, F.I.B.M.S, Al-Muthana Health Office, Iraq;
Assistant Professor F.I.B.M.S, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Thi-Qar, Nasiriyah, Iraq;
J Popul Ther Clin Pharmacol. 2022 Jun 16;29(2):e40-e51. doi: 10.47750/jptcp.2022.930. eCollection 2022.
Cutaneous cautery is a form of traditional medicine practiced in many countries. It was mentioned in the books of many ancient, pre-, and post-Islamic scholars. Patients may resort to traditional medicine (cauterization in particular) for many reasons. This study aims is to acquire more knowledge about the cautery practices and the reasons for practicing cautery in children together with other implications from adverse events of the cautery. This is a cross-sectional study in which 133 children were enrolled (77 males and 56 females with age ranged from 0.5 to 108 months) who had been admitted to Bint Al-Huda Maternity and Childhood Teaching Hospital in Nasiriya city, Thi-Qar Governorate, Southern Iraq, from December 1, 2019 to end of July 2020). The study found that >80% of cauterized children were below 1 year, (53.4%) of rural residency. Parents of the cauterized children were mainly of illiterate and primary education constituting the highest percentage (91.6%) of cauterized children were of low per capita monthly income. The grandmothers were advisors in more than half of the cauterized children, a vast majority of the advisors were either illiterate or had primary education, The person performing the cautery was a traditional healer (95.5%). Cauterization was done mostly in the head and abdomen, and a vast majority of it was done by a lighted cotton-tipped application (97%). The number of cauterization points ranged from 2 to 25 with a mean of 8.8 cautery marks. Approximately 59% of patients did not improve or worsened, whereas 30% showed partial improvement, and 11% improved. Complications were seen in 9% of the cases. There is a necessity to spread awareness regarding the dangers and complications of traditional cauterization in health care centers by health care providers. Improving the delivery of medical services to areas far from the city centers as well as spreading health awareness by use of multimedia together with eradicating illiteracy is needed.
皮肤烧灼是一种在许多国家都实行的传统医学形式。它被许多古代、前伊斯兰和后伊斯兰学者的著作提及。患者可能出于多种原因而求助于传统医学（特别是烧灼）。本研究旨在更多地了解烧灼实践以及在儿童中进行烧灼的原因，以及烧灼的不良事件的其他影响。这是一项横断面研究，共纳入 133 名儿童（77 名男性和 56 名女性，年龄 0.5 至 108 个月），他们于 2019 年 12 月 1 日至 2020 年 7 月在伊拉克南部济加尔省纳西里耶市的本特·胡达妇产教学医院就诊。研究发现，80%以上的烧灼儿童年龄在 1 岁以下，（53.4%）为农村居民。烧灼儿童的父母主要是文盲和小学教育，构成烧灼儿童的最高比例（91.6%）是低收入人群。祖母是超过一半的烧灼儿童的顾问，顾问中绝大多数是文盲或只有小学教育，实施烧灼的人是传统治疗师（95.5%）。烧灼主要在头部和腹部进行，绝大多数是用点燃的棉花头进行的（97%）。烧灼点数从 2 到 25 不等，平均有 8.8 个烧灼痕迹。大约 59%的患者没有改善或恶化，30%的患者有部分改善，11%的患者有改善。9%的病例出现了并发症。有必要在医疗保健中心通过医疗保健提供者传播关于传统烧灼的危险和并发症的意识。需要改善远离市中心的地区的医疗服务提供，并通过使用多媒体和消除文盲来提高健康意识。
