Burn injuries still produce significant morbidity and mortality in develope
d countries. The incidence of burns in Catalonia is similar to other countr
ies, with 31.2 per 100000 person/year referred to a specialized unit for de
finitive treatment. The Burn Center of the Vail d'Hebron hospital system is
located at the General Hospital. It is the only facility for burns in the
state of Catalonia. The catchment population is 6 million people, with 1814
+/-89 burned patients treated in the emergency room per year and 396+/-15 o
f them admitted per year. Overall mortality is 3.49%. Inhalation injury and
ARDS have a low incidence in our series with a high mortality. Factors ass
ociated with an increase in mortality are contact burns, inhalation injury,
age and burn size. Pre-existing conditions did not affect survival in our
series and 75% of all deaths occurred in the first week. Patients were trea
ted with early serial debridement and cerium nitrate sulfadiazine, with res
ults comparable to others in the literature. Mortality rates were compared
to the Abbreviated Burn Severity Index, with a disparity in results, advoca
ting the necessity to find a better and more applicable prognostic test for
the outcome of burn injuries. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd and ISBI. All
rights reserved.