1. Burn Injuries Resulting From Methamphetamine and Honey Oil Explosions: A Retrospective Cohort Study
- Author
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Michael M. Neeki, David Wong, Carol Lee, Michelle Burgett-Moreno, Edward Rippe, Fanglong Dong, Rodney Borger, Dania Youssef, and Benfie Liu
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Explosions ,California ,Methamphetamine ,law.invention ,Cohort Studies ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,law ,medicine ,Humans ,Plant Oils ,Registries ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Drug Trafficking ,Cannabis ,Retrospective Studies ,Trauma Severity Indices ,Third-Degree Burn ,business.industry ,Incidence (epidemiology) ,Medical record ,Rehabilitation ,030208 emergency & critical care medicine ,Retrospective cohort study ,Burn center ,Length of Stay ,Hospital Charges ,Respiration, Artificial ,Intensive care unit ,Intensive Care Units ,Emergency medicine ,Emergency Medicine ,Female ,Surgery ,Burns ,business ,Cohort study ,medicine.drug - Abstract
A high incidence of honey oil and methamphetamine production has led to an increase in burn victims presenting to this regional burn center in California. This study aims to compare patient outcomes resulting from burn injuries associated with honey oil and methamphetamine production. This is a retrospective cohort study using the regional burn registry to identify patients with burn injuries related to honey oil production or methamphetamine purification explosions from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2017. Patient demographics and clinical outcomes data were abstracted from the burn registry and medical records. A total of 91 patients were included in the final analysis and 59.3% (n = 54) were related to honey oil injury. There was no statistically significant difference between honey oil and methamphetamine burn injuries in regard to clinical outcomes, including mortality (1.9% vs 8.1%, P = .1588), third-degree burn (47.2% vs 59.5%, P = .2508), mechanical ventilator usage (50% vs 69.4%, P = .0714), median hospital length of stay (LOS; 10 vs 11 days, P = .5308), ICU LOS (10 vs 11 days, P = .1903), total burn surface area (26.5% vs 28.3%, P = .8313), and hospital charge (median of US$85,561 vs US$139,028, P = .7215). Honey oil burn injuries are associated with similar hospital LOS, similar ICU LOS, similar total burn surface area, and present a costly public health concern. With the recent legalization of marijuana in California, commercial production of honey oil in addition to increasing education about the risks of illicit honey oil production may alleviate associated risks.
- Published
- 2019
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