Epidemiology of electrical burns and its impact on quality of life - the developing world scenario

Table 1 Characteristics of electrical burn injuries

Age distribution	Minimum age 18 yr, %	Maximum age 75 yr, %
Sex distribution	Male 94 (91.3)	Female 9 (8.7)
Occupation-related injury	Yes 69 (67)	No 34 (33)
High voltage vs low voltage burns	High voltage 75 (72.8)	Low voltage 28 (27.2)

Table 2 Mechanism of sustained injury

Mechanism of injury	Frequency (n)	Percent (%)
Construction site	6	5.8
Domestic line repair	2	1.9
Farming machinery	8	7.8
Flying kite	2	1.9
Home appliance	15	14.6
Live wire in field	15	14.6
Live wire in factory	7	6.8
Live wire on roof	11	10.7
Loading in truck	3	2.9
Playing	7	6.8
Transformer	22	21.4
Welding	5	4.9
Total	103	100.0

Table 3 Mean number of surgeries performed with standard deviation and percentiles

Number of surgeries
Mean number of surgeries (n)		2.03
SD		0.842
Minimum number of surgeries (n)		1
Maximum number of surgeries (n)		4
Percentiles	25	1.00
	50	2.00
	75	3.00

Table 4 Mean scores in patients with high voltage and low voltage burns as per various domains at 3 mo, 6 mo and 9 mo

Domain	Voltage (n)	3 mo, mean ± SD	6 mo, mean ± SD	9 mo, mean ± SD
Heat sensitivity	High voltage (49)	12.55 (4.92)	15.14 (4.03)	16.73 (3.41)
	Low voltage (24)	15.71 (4.57)	17.46 (3.01)	18.21 (2.13)
Affect	High voltage (49)	16.12 (7.14)	19.00 (6.59)	20.82 (6.77)
	Low voltage (24)	23.33 (4.07)	25.46 (3.34)	26.5 (2.72)
Hand function	High voltage (49)	11.29 (6.29)	13.88 (6.25)	15.04 (6.09)
	Low voltage (24)	12.08 (5.93)	15.63 (3.94)	17.50 (3.48)
Treatment regimens	High voltage (49)	13.31 (4.35)	14.61 (4.19)	15.9 (4.05)
	Low voltage (24)	14.96 (4.71)	16.38 (3.89)	17.29 (3.22)
Work	High voltage (49)	6.33 (5.83)	7.96 (6.11)	8.73 (6.26)
	Low voltage (24)	8.83 (5.29)	10.50 (5.32)	11.71 (5.47)
Sexuality	High voltage (49)	8.14 (2.89)	9.24 (2.90)	9.63 (2.95)
	Low voltage (24)	10.75 (1.89)	11.21 (1.53)	11.54 (1.10)
Interpersonal relations	High voltage (49)	8.82 (3.97)	10.39 (3.80)	11.69 (3.76)
	Low voltage (24)	13.08 (2.80)	14.58 (2.13)	15.08 (1.67)
Simple abilities	High voltage (49)	6.78 (3.08)	8.85 (2.74)	9.98 (2.68)
	Low voltage (24)	9.0 (2.6)	10.71 (1.4)	11.46 (1.06)
Body image	High voltage (49)	6.39 (3.19)	8.45 (2.93)	10.37 (2.95)
	Low voltage (24)	11.38 (3.28)	13.33 (2.44)	14.50 (1.84)

Table 5 P value of the various domains in patients sustaining high voltage vs low voltage electrical burns

Domains	3 mo, t value (P value)	6 mo, t value (P value)	9 mo, t value (P value)
Heat sensitivity	- 2.63 (0.010)	-2.49 (0.015)	- 1.93 (0.057)
Affect	- 4.59 (0.000)	- 4.52 (0.000)	-3.95 (0.000)
Hand function	-0.52 (0.606)	-1.25 (0.215)	-1.84 (0.071)
Treatment regimens	-1.48 (0.142)	-1.73 (0.088)	- 1.47 (0.146)
Work	-1.78 (0.080)	-1.74 (0.086)	-1.98 (0.051)
Sexuality	-4.02 (0.000)	-3.11 (0.003)	-3.06 (0.003)
Interpersonal relations	-4.71 (0.000)	-5.03 (0.000)	-4.21 (0.000)
Simple abilities	-3.04 (0.003)	-3.12 (0.003)	-2.60 (0.011)
Body image	-6.22 (0.000)	-7.05 (0.000)	-6.28 (0.000)

Table 6 Mean scores in patients undergoing amputation and those not undergoing amputation at 3 mo, 6 mo and 9 mo

Domain	Amputee vs non-amputee (n)	3 mo, mean ± SD	6 mo, mean ± SD	9 mo, mean ± SD
Heat sensitivity	Amputee (30)	13.64 (4.77)	16.17 (3.41)	17.47 (3.05)
	Non-amputee (43)	13.56 (5.22)	15.72 (4.18)	17.05 (3.18)
Affect	Amputee (30)	14.33 (6.82)	17.80 (6.86)	20.17 (6.91)
	Non-amputee (43)	21.40 (5.84)	23.44 (5.08)	24.44 (5.30)
Hand function	Amputee (30)	7.83 (5.77)	11.13 (6.17)	13.17 (6.62)
	Non-amputee (43)	14.14 (5.00)	16.77 (3.84)	17.72 (3.51)
Treatment regimens	Amputee (30)	14.13 (4.01)	15.43 (3.62)	16.97 (3.43)
	Non-amputee (43)	13.65 (4.86)	15.02 (4.52)	15.93 (4.08)
Work	Amputee (30)	4.47 (4.71)	6.03 (5.38)	7.10 (6.20)
	Non-amputee (43)	9.02 (5.70)	10.72 (5.60)	11.53 (5.46)
Sexuality	Amputee (30)	7.93 (3.40)	9.10 (3.33)	9.53 (3.25)
	Non-amputee (43)	9.74 (2.16)	10.44 (1.99)	10.77 (2.02)
Interpersonal relations	Amputee (30)	8.17 (3.87)	10.43 (4.01)	11.67 (3.73)
	Non-amputee (43)	11.65 (3.72)	12.70 (3.54)	13.60 (3.30)
Simple abilities	Amputee (30)	5.40 (2.88)	7.87 (2.86)	9.27 (3.01)
	Non-amputee (43)	8.98 (2.31)	10.62 (1.41)	11.3 (1.30)
Body image	Amputee (30)	7.03 (3.80)	9.10 (3.52)	11.23 (3.21)
	Non-amputee (43)	8.72 (3.99)	10.72 (3.55)	12.07 (3.31)

Table 7 P value of the various domains among amputees and non-amputees

Domains	3 mo, t value (P value)	6 mo, t value (P value)	9 mo, t value (P value)
Heat sensitivity	-0.063 (0.950)	-0.482 (0.631)	-0.564 (0.574)
Affect	4.743 (0.000)	4.040 (0.000)	2.989 (0.004)
Hand function	4.973 (0.000)	4.810 (0.000)	3.814 (0.000)
Treatment regimens	-0.447 (0.656)	-0.413 (0.681)	-1.139 (0.259)
Work	3.601 (0.001)	3.575 (0.001)	3.230 (0.002)
Sexuality	2.781 (0.007)	2.153 (0.035)	2.001 (0.049)
Interpersonal relations	3.872 (0.000)	2.549 (0.013)	2.340 (0.022)
Simple abilities	5.868 (0.000)	5.390 (0.000)	3.952 (0.000)
Body image	1.814 (0.074)	1.927 (0.058)	1.076 (0.286)