OBJECTIVES : Hospitalization is just a first step in treating patients with burn injury. This study aims to describe hospitalization patterns for major burn injury (MajBI) and medium burn injury (MedBI) in a real-world setting of public hospitals in Brazil, from 2016 to 2018.

METHODS : Retrospective analysis of Brazilian public hospital admissions for MajBI and MedBI was developed according to hospital procedure codes 04.13.01.006-6 (treatment of MajBI) and 04.13.01.008-2 (treatment of MedBI) as reported in Brazilian Hospital Information System (SIH/SUS) database for a 3-year period (January 2016 to December 2018). Number of hospitalizations, mean length of stay (LOS), and mortality rate were defined as study variables, segmented by injury extension, year, state, and geographic region, analyzed by descriptive statistics.

RESULTS : In the 3-year period, 16,659 hospitalizations with a mean LOS of 12.8 days were recorded for MajBI. Regarding MedBI, 20,393 hospitalizations and mean LOS of 8.3 days were registered. No significant variation was observed over the years. Southeast region concentrated 32.84% of MajBI hospitalizations in the period, mainly in the state of São Paulo (20.42%). North region was the least frequent, accounting for 3.63% of hospitalizations. The same pattern was observed for MedBI. Taken together, those hospitalizations (37,052) represent 0.11% of all hospitalizations registered in the database for any cause (34,583,384). MajBI and MedBI present a higher LOS versus any-cause hospitalization (5.4 days). Mortality rates were 7.55% and 1.40% for MajBI and MedBI, respectively, without significant variation over the years. Mortality rate for MajBI is higher than for any hospitalization (4.31%), and geographic regions show a range from 4.58% in Midwest to 10.25% in North.

CONCLUSIONS : MajBI and MedBI hospitalizations represent a relevant volume of hospital occupation and an extended LOS in the Brazilian public setting. MajBI presents a high mortality rate, with relevant variation on different geographic regions, which may reflect different healthcare conditions.