Risk factors for burn injuries and fire safety awareness among patients hospitalized at a public hospital in Nairobi, Kenya: A case control study.

Abstract

Burn injuries are some of the most physically and psychologically devastating forms of trauma and most common injuries affecting children, especially in the home environment. They are more prevalent and are a public health problem in developing countries mainly because of poor socio-economic conditions. Effective prevention programs should be guided by the results of well-designed studies aimed at investigating risk factors for burns. To establish the risk factors for burn injuries among patients hospitalized at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). This was an age and gender matched case-control study comprising 202 patients admitted with burns (cases) and 202 non-surgical patients (controls) admitted into the pediatric and medical wards. The study site was KNH, a 1800-bed national referral and teaching hospital in Kenya. SPSS version 17 was used for data analysis, with descriptive statistics used for demographic data, whereas in the analysis for risk factors chi square test and odds ratio (OR) were used to determine the relationship between the predictive (risk factors) and outcome variables (burn injury). Logistic regression was used to determine the strength of association between risk factors and burn injury. The risk factors found to be significant for burn injuries were: low level of education (p=0.043), use of kerosene as fuel for cooking (OR=2.027; 95% CI: 1.361-3.019, p=0.000) and lack of knowledge of burn injury prevention and fire safety (OR=4.009; CI: 2.603-6.172, p=0.000). Low level of education, use of kerosene for cooking and lack of knowledge of burn injury prevention and fire safety were identified as risk factors for burn injury among patients hospitalized at KNH. These risk factors should be addressed in burn injury prevention programs for Kenya.