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Burns in the Older Adult

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Principles and Practice of Geriatric Surgery

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Abstract

Today, there are approximately 40 million people in the United States over the age of 65. As the population ages, this figure is projected to drastically increase to nearly 90 million by the year 2050. With this in mind, as the elderly population increases, it is expected that the incidence of elderly burn victims will as well. This chapter provides insight into the epidemiology, prognosis, and physical considerations in the management and treatment of elderly burn patients. Furthermore, it will explore the acute phase response after burn injury, infections and sepsis, and long-term outcomes. Thermal injuries have a unique manifestation relative to other forms of trauma, and the following sections will demonstrate that this creates further difficulties in older adults. The growing body of literature in elderly burn patients in the last decade reflects the inherent challenges when treating and also sheds light on the demand for improved therapeutic regimes for this growing population.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Marc G. Jeschke

  2. Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Marc G. Jeschke

  3. Ross Tilley Burn Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Marc G. Jeschke

  4. Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Mile Stanojcic & Marc G. Jeschke

Authors
  1. Mile Stanojcic
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  2. Marc G. Jeschke
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marc G. Jeschke .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Surgical Service, Yale University School of Medicine VA Connecticut Health Care System, West Haven, CT, USA

    Ronnie A. Rosenthal

  2. SUNY Downstate School of Public Health, National Capital Region Johns Hopkins Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Michael E. Zenilman

  3. Center for Geriatric Surgery, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Mark R. Katlic

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Surgery, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA

    Jason Johanning

  2. Duke Medicine, Durham, NC, USA

    Sandhya Lagoo-Deenadayalan

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Stanojcic, M., Jeschke, M.G. (2019). Burns in the Older Adult. In: Rosenthal, R., Zenilman, M., Katlic, M. (eds) Principles and Practice of Geriatric Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20317-1_78-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20317-1_78-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-20317-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-20317-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine

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