Pediatric burns due to hot water from water dispenser: a neglected issue that should be highly concerned.

BACKGROUND: More and more Chinese drink hot water from water dispensers while many children were scalded due to this change. The present study aimed to propose a feasible strategy for prevention. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted for all water dispensers related pediatric burns admitted to Changhai Hospital from January 2005 to December 2009. RESULTS: The number of new cases and incidences of pediatric burns due to hot water from water dispensers was significantly increasing year after year. In the total 238 involved cases, 175 cases happened on males and 78.9% were at the age of 1 - 4 years. The burn areas were mainly located in upper extremities. All water dispensers in the surveyed families had no isolate protection devices and 85.2% of their locations were easy for children to reach. Nearly half of the children were in the same room with their guardians when injured. Total 196 burned children were playing the taps of water dispensers before injured, unfortunately, 80.6% of them have not been stopped until burned. CONCLUSION: As the kind of burns is quite serious and with bad outcome, some recommendations should be followed, such as buying water dispensers with protection devices, keeping children from touching them and so on.