Tatlow Claudia J, Hince Dana A, Evans Chelsea K, Truter Piers, Pienaar Pip C, Wood Fiona M, Bulsara Max, Berghuber Aaron, Gittings Paul M, Edgar Dale W
School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing, Midwifery and Health Sciences, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, WA, Australia; Physiotherapy Department, Fiona Stanley Hospital, WA, Australia.
Institute for Health Research, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, WA, Australia.
Burns. 2025 Jun;51(5):107474. doi: 10.1016/j.burns.2025.107474. Epub 2025 Apr 2.
Ambulating early after lower limb burn surgery has been associated with a multitude of in-hospital and short-term benefits. However, long-term functional recovery following lower limb burns is poorly understood, especially if grafting surgery is required.
This study aimed to explore the association between early ambulation following lower limb burn injury and surgery, long-term lower limb functional recovery and secondly, hospital length of stay (LOS).
This retrospective longitudinal cohort study reported data from 1718 adult patients treated by a tertiary hospital burn center in Western Australia between February 2011 and December 2019 following a lower limb burn injury.
Comparable lower limb function outcomes were found at six weeks after injury regardless of burn severity or timing of ambulation. Early ambulation pathways were associated with the likelihood of achieving a better long-term functional recovery over the first year after burn. A positive association was also confirmed between early ambulation and hospital LOS. After adjustment, patients who ambulated early after burn and surgery had a LOS of 1.76 days less than patients who ambulated early after burn but late after surgery (IRR 1.22, 95 % CI:1.13-1.3, p < 0.001).
Early ambulation before the third day after lower limb burn injury and surgery was associated with improved long-term functional outcome trajectory to one year and reduced hospital LOS by of 1.76 days when patients ambulated early after surgery. Future investigations with larger, targeted samples of complex patients are warranted to explore the influence of early ambulation on the outcomes of multi-morbidity subgroups.
下肢烧伤手术后早期活动与多种院内及短期益处相关。然而，下肢烧伤后的长期功能恢复情况尚不清楚，尤其是在需要进行植皮手术的情况下。
本研究旨在探讨下肢烧伤损伤及手术后早期活动与长期下肢功能恢复之间的关联，其次是住院时间（LOS）。
这项回顾性纵向队列研究报告了2011年2月至2019年12月期间，西澳大利亚一家三级医院烧伤中心治疗的1718例成年下肢烧伤患者的数据。
无论烧伤严重程度或活动时间如何，在受伤六周后发现下肢功能结果相当。早期活动路径与烧伤后第一年实现更好的长期功能恢复的可能性相关。早期活动与住院时间之间也证实存在正相关。调整后，烧伤及手术后早期活动的患者比烧伤后早期活动但手术后晚期活动的患者住院时间少1.76天（发病率比1.22，95%可信区间：1.13 - 1.3，p < 0.001）。
下肢烧伤损伤及手术后第三天前的早期活动与改善至一年的长期功能结果轨迹相关，且当患者手术后早期活动时住院时间减少1.76天。未来有必要对更大规模、针对复杂患者的样本进行调查，以探讨早期活动对多种合并症亚组结果的影响。
