Long-term medical treatment of patients with severe burns at exposed sites

Table 1 Bacteria distribution before and one week after Chinese herbal bath treatment [n = 84, n (%)]

Group	Time	Staphylococcus aureus	Acinetobacter baumannii	Escherichia coli	Others	Detection rate
A	Before Chinese herbal bath	15 (38.4)	12 (30.8)	6 (15.4)	6 (315.4)	100
	One week after the Chinese herbal bath	3 (7.7)	1 (2.6)	0 (0)	0 (0)	10.26a
B	Before Chinese herbal bath	19 (48.7)	10 (25.6)	6 (15.4)	4 (10.3)	100.0
	One week after the Chinese herbal bath	13 (33.3)	6 (15.4)	4 (10.3)	3 (7.7)	66.67c

^aP < 0.05 following comparison of the same group before and after the Chinese herbal bath.

^cP < 0.05 when compared with the control group (Group B) one week after the Chinese herbal bath.

Table 2 Comparison of pain severity scores between the two groups (mean ± SD)

Group	Number of cases	Before treatment (scores)	3 d after treatment (scores)	One week after treatment (scores)	On day 14 of treatment (point)
A	13	7.3 ± 1.4	5.2 ± 1.5	3.8 ± 0.9	1.8 ± 0.7
B	13	7.0 ± 1.2	6.4 ± 1.0	5.2 ± 1.2	4.5 ± 1.3
t value		-	2.624	3.075	6.269
t‘ value		1.075	-	-	-
P value		0.3033	0.0222	0.0096	< 0.0001

On days 3, 7, and 14 of the Chinese herbal therapy, the pain severity scores were compared between the two groups, respectively, and the results all showed statistically significant differences (P < 0.05).

Table 3 Changes in the objective parameters of scar assessment in the two groups after anti-scar therapy

Scale score
Parameters	Group A				Group B
	1 wk	1 mo	3 mo	6 mo	1 wk	1 mo	3 mo	6 mo
Color	1.3 ± 0.5	2.2 ± 0.6	2.0 ± 0.7	0.8 ± 0.6	1.4 ± 0.5	2.5 ± 0.5	3.0 ± 0.3	2.4 ± 0.7
Thickness	0.8 ± 0.4	2.2 ± 0.7	2.6 ± 1.0	1.0 ± 0.6	0.9 ± 0.6	2.6 ± 0.7	3.2 ± 0.6	2.7 ± 0.9
Vascular distribution	1.5 ± 0.5	2.5 ± 0.5	2.2 ± 0.8	0.8 ± 0.6	1.4 ± 0.7	2.4 ± 0.7	2.8 ± 0.4	2.1 ± 0.8
Softness	0.8 ± 0.6	2.7 ± 0.8	2.8 ± 0.7	1.2 ± 0.7	0.7 ± 0.6	3.1 ± 0.6	3.9 ± 1.0	3.8 ± 1.1

Table 4 Changes in patients’ self-rating anxiety scale and self-rating depression scores (mean ± SD)

Group	Time	SAS	SDS
Group A	Before rehabilitation	48.38 ± 5.11	61.38 ± 5.54
	After rehabilitation	21.62 ± 2.42a	34.27 ± 4.35a
Group B	Before rehabilitation	47.59 ± 6.27	58.38 ± 4.75
	After rehabilitation	38.54 ± 4.66c	46.24 ± 6.82c

^aP < 0.05, following comparison of the same group before and after the psychological rehabilitation.

^cP < 0.05, when compared with the control group (group B) after psychological rehabilitation. SAS: Self-rating anxiety scale; SDS: Self-rating depression scale.