Analysis of electrical injury in a Level I southern Taiwan trauma center

Background: Electrical injuries are potentially devastating in many ways. This study aimed to profile the epidemiologic characteristics and outcome of these patients in a Level I trauma center in Southern Taiwan. Methods: A retrospective review of 34 (1.9%) patients with electrical injuries and admitted to the Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Burn Center from 2009 to 2015 from all 23,705 hospitalized patients registered in the trauma registry system. The information such as patient's profile, injury characteristics and severity, description of the burn injury, associated injuries, expenditures, and outcomes were gathered. Results: There were 33 males and one female with an average age of 37.1 ± 10.4 years old. Twenty-eight cases (82.3%) were work related. The average total body surface area burned was 5.26%. The mean injury severity score was 9.8 with the median, and interquartile ranges (Q1–Q3) being 4 and 3.3–9.3. The average hospital length of stay (LOS) was 16.6 ± 14.3 days. Twenty-one patients required Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission, and the average ICU LOS was 20.1 ± 16.2 days. Fourteen patients underwent operations with each patient averaging 2.5 operations. There were two cases of mortality (5.9%). Although the expenditure seemed to be higher in dealing with the electrical burn patients (n = 34) than the nonelectrical burn patients (n = 1727), there were no significant differences of the average total expenditure as well as the costs of operation, examination, and pharmaceuticals between the electrical burn patients and nonelectrical burn patients. Conclusions: Most of the electrical burn injuries are work related and may associated with injuries to different body regions. With a high incidence of ICU admission and the requirement of frequent operations, the electric burn injuries still carry high morbidities with the risk to mortality.