To analyze retrospectively the epidemiologic characteristics of chemical burn in a major burn center in Beijing.

Chemical burn patients admitted to the Department of Burns, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital from January 2010 to December 2018 were recruited as the research object. Data were collected on the basis of patients′ gender, age, occupation, places of injury, nature of injury, types of chemicals, and seasonal variations, emergency treatment, burn area, burn part of body, complication, type of operation, duration of hospitalization, mortality.

A total of 456 patients (328 males and 128 females) were admitted during January 2010 to December 2018. Most of patients [74.6%(340/465)] were in an age group, which ranged from 21 to 40 years old. In terms of occupation, 273 patients (59.9%) were workers. Most of the chemical burns [92.8%(423/456)] occurred away from residential places, the highest number of injuries occurred in the work place [70.4%(321/456)]. Chemical burns due to accidents and criminal assaults were 383 patients (83.3%) and 73 patients (16.7%). Strong acids [62.9%(287/456)] were common causative agents. There was a relationship between the incidence of chemical burns and the season, with more patients in April to June and July to September. The burn area of 77.2%(352/456) patients were less than 10% total body surface area (TBSA). Head [24.6%(112/456)] and extremities [lower limb was 24.1%(110/456), and upper limb was 28.7%(131/456)] were the most frequent areas of injury. The most common accompanying injury was eye burn [13.8%(63/456)]. The skin grafting and conjunctival autograft surgeries were carried out on 243 patients (53.3%). The average period of hospitalization was (34±2) days, and in this study only 4 patients (0.9%) passed away because of chemical burns.

Most of the chemical burn patients are young male, hurt by accident during working. It occurres common during summer and autumn, and the burn area is small. Most patients are hurt on head, face and extremity. The most common complication is eye injury. It is eventually recommended to develop professional training programs for workers in order to reduce the incidence rate of chemical burns.