An undescribed scalding, Çökelek burns in turkish children : Is acidic effect the reason of high mortality and double-hit injury?

This retrospective review was aimed to evaluate for the first time the risk factors in addition to the demographic and epidemiological features of immersion scalds by hot çökelek in 23 preschool-aged Turkish children younger than 7 years of age, who were admitted to the burn unit of Erciyes University Medical Faculty between January 1996 and August 2006. This retrospective study consisted of 23 hospitalized scalded children by hot çökelek. Hot çökelek burns were studied in terms of age, sex, length of hospital stay, seasonal variation, regions of involvement, the time between burn and admission to our burn unit, extent of burn injury, mortality, morbidity, and treatment modalities. The study consisted of 17 male (74%) and 6 female (26%) pediatric burns with a male-to-female ratio of 2.83:1, which was more frequent in boys. The mean age distribution, extent of burn injury, length of hospital stay, and mean transport time were 3.47 +/- 1.41 (range, 2-6 years), 36.60 +/- 16.60% (range, 12-79%), 26.00 +/- 10.88 (range, 13-38 days), and 8.69 +/- 3.73 (range, 2-15 hours), respectively. The overall mortality rate of the study population was 47.8% (11 of 23 children died). All patients suffered deep partial and full thickness burn injuries and received surgical treatment. Hot çökelek burns with acidic component should be considered important because of its high morbidity and mortality. We emphasize the admittance criteria of patients into burn units need to be reviewed in countries where çökelek is being widely consumed.