BURN INCIDENCE AND TREATMENT IN THE UNITED STATES:
[Information provided by The Nursing Clinics of North America]

1999 FACT SHEET

BURN INCIDENCE

• Most Recent Estimate: 1.25 million injuries per year.
  
• Trend: The incidence of burn injury in the United States has declined significantly from the two million annual injuries estimated in the first report of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), drawn from 1957-61 data. Since then, the rate of medically-attended burn injuries has declined from about 10/10,000 to 4.2/10,000.
• Sources: Total burn incidence is estimated every 8-10 years by the NHIS, an ongoing health survey of a sample of American households. The last NHIS burn injury estimate of 1.129 million covers 1991-93. Owing to the small sample size of the NHIS, the 1.25 million estimate above relies partly on data from three additional federal surveys, including the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, and the National Medical Expenditure Survey.

FIRE AND BURN DEATHS

• Most Recent Estimate: 4,500 fire and burn deaths per year.
  (This includes about 3,750 deaths from house fires and 750 from other sources, including motor vehicle and aircraft crashes, contact with electricity, chemicals or hot liquids, and other sources of fire or flames. Since the respective role of flame and smoke in fire deaths is often not determined by autopsy, "burn" death totals cannot be distinguished from those caused by smoke poisoning).
• Trend: Fire and burn deaths in the United States declined about 40% from 1971 to 1995. Since the US population grew 25% during that period, the rate of decline was 50%.
• Sources: Annual survey of fire departments by the National Fire Protection Association; annual Vital and Health Statistics reports of the National Center for Health Statistics.

HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS AND EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT VISITS

Most Recent Estimates: 45,000 hospitalizations per year, about half to 135 specialized burn treatment centers and half to all 5,000 other hospitals. 600,000 annual emergency department admissions. (Burn center hospitals average 200 burn admissions a year, other hospitals less than five.)

• Trend: Total annual acute hospitalizations for burn injury declined 50% since 1971. Burn center admissions meanwhile have doubled, increasing from 13 to 50% of total acute burn admissions. No trend data are available for hospital emergency department or outpatient visits for burn injury.
• Sources: National Hospital Discharge Survey, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, American Burn Association (admissions), National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (ER visits).