Health related quality of life 5-7 years after minor and severe burn injuries: a multicentre cross-sectional study

Introduction: Burn injury can affect health-related quality of life (HRQL). Knowledge concerning long-term HRQL in burn patients is limited. Therefore our aim was to evaluate long-term HRQL and to study predictors of impaired long-term HRQL. Methods: All adults with a length of stay (LOS) of 1 day (2011–2012) were invited. Also, adults withsevereburns,i.e., >20% total body surface area (TBSA) burnedorTBSA fullthickness>5% (2010–2013) were invited. Participants completed the EuroQol(EQ)-5 D-5L +C and visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) 5–7 years after burns. Results: This study included 256 patients (mean %TBSA 10%); 187 patients with minor burns and 69 patients with severe burns. Mean EQ-5D summary was 0.90 and EQ-VAS 83.2 in the minor burn patients, and 0.79 and 78.1 in the severe burn patients. Some problems in at least one dimension were experienced by 81% of patients with severe burns and 45% of those with minor burns. However, a minority reported severe or extreme problems; 15% of those with severe burns and 6% of those with minor burns. Patients with severe burns reported significantly more problems, except for anxiety/ depression. In both patient groups most problems were reported on pain/discomfort. Length of hospital stay, gender and age were associated with lower long-term HRQL (EQVAS) in multivariate analyses, whereas only length of stay was associated with a lower summary score.

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