Headlines - Nearly 9,000 people hospitalized for burns each year

The French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS) has just published a study on hospitalizations for burns in mainland France, based on data from the Medical Information Systems Program (PMSI). In 2011, among the 8,670 people hospitalized for burns, one-quarter were children aged 0 to 4 and one-quarter were over 50. While young children are particularly at risk of burns as soon as they begin to walk, the consequences of burns are generally much more severe among the elderly: half of the 219 people who died in the hospital from burns in 2011 were over 65 years old (compared to 4 deaths among children under 15). The results show that hospital stays for burns are generally long-term: 7.5 days on average, which reflects their severity. Finally, among patients treated at burn centers (CTBs), the most severely injured (12%) have stays averaging more than one month. Furthermore, the incidence of burn victims is not uniform across France. Franche-Comté is one of the five regions with the highest incidence rates of hospitalized burn victims (between 1.5 and 2 per 10,000) along with Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Picardy, Languedoc-Roussillon, and Pays-de-la-Loire.Prevention requires the adoption of regulatory measures aimed at making the environment safer, particularly in the home. The limitation of hot water temperature under the decree of November 30, 2005, is a step in this direction. The requirement to install a standalone smoke detector in all dwellings by March 8, 2015, established by the law of March 9, 2010, is expected to lead to a significant reduction in hospitalizations and deaths from burns resulting from fires. Regular analysis of hospitalizations for burn injuries will provide data on this in the coming years. A thesaurus—developed by the French Society for the Study and Treatment of Burns (SFETB), the InVS, and the Technical Agency for Hospitalization Information (ATIH)—became mandatory as of January 1, 2013, and will enable the study of the causes of burns.