141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

289999
Burn injury, psychiatric disorder, and physical health problems: Predisposing factors and temporal relationships

Monday, November 4, 2013

Elizabeth Brutsch, MPH(c) , Health Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
Ray M. Merrill, PhD, MPH , Department of Health Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
Steven M. Thygerson, PhD, MSPH, CIH , Department of Health Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between selected types of psychiatric disorders and burn injuries. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from the Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators, 2001 through 2011. The average annual rate of burn injury was 2.2/1000. The rate for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was 4.9/1000, for depression/anxiety was 41.7/1000, and psychosis was 12.8/1000. Risk of a burn injury was significantly greater for children less than 10 years of age. There was no significant difference in risk between males and females. An increased risk of a burn injury was associated with ADHD (Rate Ratio = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.50-2.22), depression/anxiety (2.11, 1.92-2.30), and psychosis (2.20, 1.95-2.50), after adjusting for age and sex. This study also examined the role of comorbid physical health problems and temporal relationship of depression/anxiety and a burn injury (i.e., whether depression/anxiety is more likely to precede or follow a burn injury). These results stress the importance of considering psychiatric disorders when developing prevention and treatment of burn injuries, both in terms of pre-existing comorbid conditions, and as subsequent reactions to burn injury.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify the relationship between selected types of psychiatric disorders and burn injuries. Analyze the role of comorbid physical health problems and temporal relationship of depression/anxiety and a burn injury (i.e., whether depression/anxiety is more likely to precede or follow a burn injury).

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a Master of Public Health student at Brigham Young University. This paper was written under the direction of Ray M. Merrill, MPH, PhD and Steven M. Thygerson, MSPH, PhD, CIH.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.