Mental and Physical Health Outcomes in Parents of Children with Burn Injuries as Compared to Matched Controls
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Date
2014-06-01
Authors
Enns, Jessica
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Abstract
Childhood burn injuries are common in the population and may result in many physical and
mental health complications for not only the patient, but also their parents. As survival of
patients with large burns increases, there is more focus on these patients' recovery.
Psychological challenges due to the long term disfigurement and mobility challenges due to the
scarring that can occur have the potential to impact the health of parents as well. There is
limited literature that examines mental and physical health of parents after their child suffers
from a burn injury. This is a population based case matched study linking together information
recorded in the Pediatric burn registry at Health Sciences Centre and Children's Hospital with
health and social service information in the Population Health Research Data Repository
located at the Manitoba Centre for health Policy (MCHP) at the University of Manitoba. Cases
were matched 1:5 with controls based on age, sex, and geographical location. ICD codes were
used to identify diagnoses of various mental and physical disorders, comparing rates of
disease two years prior to and two years following the date of the injury to determine relative
rates. 1029 parents of burn-injured offspring and 4923 matched control parents were identified.
Findings of this study show that there are increased relative rates of substance use disorder
(3.45) and fractures (3.47) in the parents of burn-injured children compared to the relative rates
of substance use disorder (2.86) and fractures (2.55) in the matched control parents. These
findings have important clinical implications for the care of parents who have a burn-injured
child.
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Keywords
parents of burn victims, mental and physical health outcomes