The epidemiology of burn injuries in a Canadian population during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: To investigate the changes in the epidemiology of burn injuries in a Canadian population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information were used to evaluate differences in burn ED visits from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistic regression models estimated the odds of a severe burn occurrence. Results: During the pandemic, there were significant decreases in ED visits for burns. Distributions of factors associated with burns had little to no change. Period, age, gender, income, month, and daytime were significantly associated with severe burns during the pandemic. Conclusions: The study found large reductions in the number of ED visits during the pandemic, but no evidence of changes in the epidemiology of burns or patterns in the patient populations.