Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study is the medicolegal assessment of selective cases of burn victims in Lahore and to determine the characteristics and associated outcomes of burn patient presented at medicolegal clinic in Emergency and Accident Department of Mayo hospital, KEMU, Lahore.
Methods: A cross tabulation analysis is being conducted at King Edward Medical University after the approval from the ethical review committee. It is a retrospective study conducted from the Medicolegal cases of burn victims presented at King Edward Medical University during the period of January 2018 to December 2018 with the sample size of 300 using non-probability purposive sampling technique.
Results: In the present study, the highest prevalence of cases was in the age group of 0-10 years (62.67%) followed by the victims lying in the age group of 21-30 years (13%) out of which 50% victims were male and 50% victims were females. Majority of the cases (90.67%) were presented within 6 hours of the injury and only 9.33% were reported after 10 hours of the incident. In more than half (53.67%) of the victims 20% or less body area was burnt. In 33% cases 20-40% area was burnt. Full body (81-100%) burn cases were only 3% while 75% burnt area cases were only 2.33%. About 53.33% cases were wet scalds including gas explosions, 39.67% cases were dry flame burns, However, the rest of 7% were the cases of electrocution.
Conclusion: Burn injuries are prevalent in children of both genders equally. Most of the cases are presented in the first 6 hours of the incident. The cause is usually known and includes hot liquids, flame or electrocution. The injury may be external or internal depending upon the cause and extent