Assessment of the health status in Brazilian burn victims five to seven months after hospital discharge.

Abstract

To evaluate health status, impact of event, anxiety, and depression in burn victims at five-to-seven months after hospital discharge, and to explore the association between those variables with age, body surface area burn (BSA), sex, and marital status. Cross-sectional study involving 73 adults who were interviewed for general health status (BSHS-R), impact of event (IES), and anxiety and depression (HADS). Participants were mostly men (68.5%), with mean age 38.4 years (SD = 14.5), and mean hospital length of stay (LOS) 24.5 days (SD = 25.3). Mean scores were: 128.1 (SD = 18.9) for BSHS-R, 62.1(SD = 35.8) for IES, 5.5 (SD = 4.1) for anxiety, and 3.9 (SD = 3.9) for depression. Health status was highly and inversely correlated with impact of event, depression, anxiety, LOS, number of surgeries, and BSA. Men and women differed in the BSHS-R affect and body image domains, and depression. Individuals with larger BSA reported worse scores for BSHS-R (work domain). Burn victims reported good health status on average, which was negatively correlated with reported depression, anxiety, impact of event, LOS, number of operations, and BSA. These findings suggest that general health might be improved by interventions that target modifiable behavioral factors, such as support groups and cognitive behavioral therapies.