Nicotine and Smoking Effects on Burn Related Reconstruction Patient Outcomes and Complications Following Hospital Admission: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Philadelphia, PA

Patients suffering from burn-related injuries admitted to the hospital concurrently using nicotine and/or smoke are believed to be at an increased risk of poor outcomes and the development of complications following burn reconstruction, however data varies within the literature and remains controversial. This systematic review and meta-analysis compared outcomes and complications from studies during the years 1986 to 2018 between 8568 burn patients admitted to the hospital who use nicotine and/or smoke to 299543 burn patients admitted who do not use nicotine and/or smoke. The PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were systematically and independently searched. Clinical characteristics, nicotine/smoking use, outcomes and complications were recorded. PRISMA and Cochrane guidelines where used throughout the review. Five of the 9 studies included in our study, were eligible for meta-analysis, with results from 7 of the possible 21 outcomes and complications queried. In conclusion, this systematic review and meta-analysis found that compared to patients suffering from burn-related injuries who do not use nicotine and/or smoke, patients using nicotine/smoking were found to have a higher rate of intubation and more wound/local skin infections.