Burn injuries remain a global challenge, causing high mortality and healthcare costs. Silver sulfadiazine (SSD)–based therapy commonly necessitates frequent dressing changes and has been associated with increased pain at dressing changes and slower re-epithelialization compared with several contemporary dressing modalities. With their moisture-retentive, biocompatible, and non-adhesive properties, hydrogels provide an optimal environment for wound repair and enable localized drug delivery. This review aims to evaluate hydrogel effectiveness in healing time reduction. Medline, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science were systematically searched from inception to May 7, 2025, supplemented by manual searches. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) enrolling burn patients treated with hydrogels versus conventional dressings were included. Outcomes assessed were wound healing, infection, and pain. Meta-analysis was conducted using random-effects models in R version 4.3.3. A total of 13 randomized controlled trials involving 694 participants were included. Hydrogels significantly shortened burn healing time by about 3 days compared with standard or silver-based dressings. Subgroup analysis comparing hydrogels with SSD showed a similar effect. Despite substantial heterogeneity, sensitivity analyses confirmed stability. No publication bias was detected. This meta-analysis demonstrated that hydrogel dressings for partial-thickness burns significantly reduced burn healing time by approximately 3 days compared with conventional treatments. Despite considerable heterogeneity due to variations in study design, burn depth, and hydrogel composition, the pooled effect remained consistent. Hydrogels improved pain relief, patient satisfaction, and nursing efficiency while enabling antimicrobial incorporation. Evidence supports hydrogels as effective alternatives for partial-thickness burns, warranting standardized RCTs for confirmation.
Ghadri et al. (Thu,) studied this question.