Assessment of health-related quality of life in patients with burns injuries during the COVID-19 epidemic: A critical topic for burn survivors.

PURPOSE: It is well known that the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) epidemic had an adverse effect on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients with disabilities, or neurological or chronic conditions. The aim of this study was to examine the possible factors affecting HRQOL in patients with burn injuries during COVID-19 epidemic. METHODS: The study included a total of 40 burns patients. The demographic and burn injury information of the patients were recorded. The active range of motion was measured with a goniometer. The HRQOL, community integration, scar tissue quality and anxiety level were evaluated using the Burn-Specific Health Scale (BSHS), the Community Integration Questionnaire Revised (CIQ-R), Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, respectively. RESULTS: The history of COVID-19 infection, total burn surface area (TBSA), community integration level, work-related burns, the presence of trunk burn injury, the presence of face burn injury, and the presence of a major burn injury were determined to be significantly associated with the HRQOL of burns patients (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The history of COVID-19 infection, community integration level, and burn-related parameters (TBSA, localization, severity etc.) were found to be factors associated with the HRQOL during the epidemic. The history of COVID-19 and community integration level should be evaluated in addition to the burn injury parameters to improve the quality of life of burn survivors. It can be recommended that these clinical parameters should be considered when planning the treatment program during and after the epidemic.

Cultural adaptation and validation of Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale for Turkish use.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to evaluate cross-cultural adaptation, validation, and reliability of Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) for its Turkish use. METHOD: This study included 50 burn patients with hypertrophic scars who were aged 18-65 years (mean, 37.5±1.4years) and were admitted to Wound and Burn Treatment Center from February 2014 to April 2014. With regard to the cultural adaptation of POSAS from English to Turkish, the scale was translated by two people who worked in different health fields. POSAS was administered to the patients with a 1-week interval to evaluate the validity and reliability of the scale. Internal consistency of the scale was tested using the Cronbach alphamethod. RESULTS: The Cronbach alpha value for the observer measurements was found to be 0.93 (excellent), and that for patient measurements was found to be 0.77 (good). Accordingly, the internal consistency of the scale was established. CONCLUSION: The Turkish version of POSAS is a valid, reliable and culturally appropriate survey for evaluating hypertrophic scars. We believe that the Turkish version of POSAS will be an important clinical/scientific tool in the field of burn physiotherapy in Turkey, which will lead to new researches in this field.