Burn injury and multiple sclerosis: A retrospective case-control study

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine whether having a previous diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) changed acute care needs in burn-injured patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective case-control study that included adult (aged ≥18years) patients with an acute burn injury. Control patients were matched with eleven patients with a history of MS at a 4:1 ratio. Outcomes included fluid resuscitation volumes, temperature, heart rate, mean arterial pressure, in-hospital complications, and hospital length of stay (LOS). RESULTS: There were fifty-five patients included and of those, eleven had a documented history of MS. Fluid resuscitation volumes, temperature, heart rate, and mean arterial pressure were similar between groups during the resuscitation period (p>0.05). LOS was similar between both groups (12, IQR: 2-17 vs. median 16, IQR: 12-21; p=0.090). However, when normalized to % TBSA burn, patients with MS had a significantly higher median LOS/% TBSA burned (1.2, IQR: 0.7-2.0 vs. 2.1, IQR: 1.1-7.1; p=0.031). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with concurrent burn injuries and MS have a significantly longer LOS/% TBSA burn suggesting that more time is required to heal their wounds. Surprisingly, there were no other significant differences in the after the burn acute phase between these two cohorts.