Alcohol Use 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 consuming alcohol 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 1958 to 2018 between 813 burn patients admitted to the hospital with alcohol use reported by a positive blood alcohol concentration (BAC), intoxication, or the patient on admission to 299543 burn patients admitted who were not consuming alcohol. The PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were systematically and independently searched. Clinical characteristics, alcohol use, outcomes and complications were recorded. PRISMA and Cochrane guidelines where used throughout the review. Eleven of the 14 studies included in our study, were eligible for meta-analysis, with results from 9 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 did not consume alcohol, patients consuming alcohol spent more days on a ventilator, had a higher rate of intubation, had a higher rate of inhalation injury, longer intensive care unit length of stay, and increased mortality.