Infectious factors in burn patients and effects on mortality [Yani{dotless}k hastalarda enfeksiyon etkenleri ve mortaliteye etkileri]

Aim: burn wound infection and sepsis is still a serious mortality factor in burn injuries. we aimed to identify microorganisms isolated in wound,blood and urine samples and their effect on the mortality of our hospitalized patients. material and methods: patients hospitalized at our center and intensive care unit between january 1st,2002 and december 31st,2010 were retrospectively reviewed. patient age,gender,total body surface area burned,whether there is a wound-bloodurine culture or not,if so the identified microorganism,and mortality was recorded. results: the mean age of the hospitalized 2245 patients was 25±22 (range 1-95 years) and 32.8% (737) were female. among 2225 patients,wound cultures were carried out in 691 (30.8%),blood cultures in 625 (28.1%) and urine cultures in 589 (26.2%) patients. a positive culture in wound,blood and urine significantly increased the mortality rates (p<0.001,p<0.001,p<0.001,respectively). among the patients with total body surface area burns of <30%,a positive culture in blood or urine significantly increased the mortality rates (p<0.001,p=0.038,respectively). conclusion: infection in burn injuries is still a major problem effecting mortality. several systemic factors take part in the mortality of patients with extensive burns. a positive blood or urine culture in patients with total body surface area burns of <30% should be kept in mind as a factor increasing mortality.