Opium Addiction and Mortality Among Burn Patients

Opium addiction is a major issue amongst burn-patients in Iran. A few studies have addressed interactions between burn and addiction. The aim of the present study was to compare mortality and morbidity between addicted and non-addicted patients with burn injuries. This research was a prospective paired matched-cohort study that was conducted from October 2012 to July 2013 at the Burn Unit of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. One hundred and fifty-two burn patients (64% of 237) were matched in pairs based on age, gender, total body surface area and burn thickness. Mortality and morbidity was compared between the two groups using the McNemar test, the conditional logistic regression model and the Kaplan-Meier method. Fourteen (9.2%) patients died at the Burn unit. McNemar test found statistically significant differences in mortality between the two groups. Survival analysis using the Kaplan-Meier method revealed that the estimated mean survival time was 59.02 (CI 95%: 41.83 - 76.21) for non-addicted patients and 118.78 (CI 95%: 106.52 - 131.04) for addicted patients. The odds ratio for mortality was 0.524 (CI 95%: 0.167 - 1.64) times greater for addicted patients compared with non-addicted patients. Addiction in burn patients could be considered as a factor against mortality that deserves further studies. Besides, addicted patients didn`t show significantly higher morbidity than non-addicted patients.