Burn Research State of the Science: Introduction

There have been tremendous advances in the medical and surgical management of burn injuries over the past several decades. Injuries that were uniformly fatal as recently as 25 to 30 years ago are now typically survivable. Despite this incredible progress, there are numerous areas for improvements and innovations in both patient care and research. Each year more than 1 million people sustain burn injury. There are several at-risk populations for burn injury in the United States, including a number of underserved groups: children under age 4 years (for whom burn injury represents one of the leading causes of disability), adults over age 65 years, African-Americans and Native Americans, the poor, and people living in rural areas or substandard housing.1,–5 In addition, burns represent a significant source of injury in national disasters: approximately one third of the people injured in recent terrorist attacks sustained major burn injury. Military personnel also sustain burn injury from explosions, fires, and accidents.