Background: We report on a prospective study of 45 patients with burn injur
ies admitted to a major burn unit in the greater Athens area. The study aim
ed to explore the prevalence of psychological and psychiatric disorders amo
ng burn survivors. Methods:The sample comprised all consecutive cases of ad
ult burn patients in a 6-month period. Personal interviews were conducted b
y the administration of the Langner scale and the DSM-III-R Structured Clin
ical Interview. Twelve months later, 30 patients of the baseline sample wer
e reexamined. Results: Psychological impairment was found to be 45.5 and 40
% at the baseline and follow-up assessments, respectively. The extent of bu
rns was found to be associated with psychological impairment. The prevalenc
e of psychiatric disorders (any DSM-III nosological entity) reached 46.6% a
t both baseline and follow-up examinations. Posttraumatic stress disorder w
as diagnosed in 17.8 and 20.0% of burn survivors at the baseline and the 12
-month follow-up assessments, respectively. Logistic regression analysis re
vealed that face disfigurement was the only burn characteristic significant
ly associated with the presence of psychiatric morbidity, Conclusions: The
results of the study suggest that the extent of burns is not so important w
hen compared to the possibility of disfigurement from the point of risk of
developing a psychiatric disorder. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.