Long-term adjustment in burn victims: a matched-control study
Abstract
BACKGROUND: To date, there is little information about how severely burned patients compare to unburned healthy individuals in terms of psychological profile and quality of life. As part of a larger study on the sensory consequences of burns, we assessed psychological functioning and quality of life in burned patients and unburned healthy control subjects. We also examined whether burn patients experiencing pain and/or paresthetic sensations (i.e. symptomatic patients) present a profile that is different from those who are asymptomatic. METHODS: Forty-nine burned patients (% total body surface area = 34 59 % +/- 13.40; 82% males/18% females) were evaluated 63 59 +/- 28.1 months post-burn. They were matched with 49 unburned healthy volunteers on age, sex, and education level. All subjects were administered the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90-R) to assess psychological functioning and the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) to assess quality of life. RESULTS: Approximately 25% of the burn patients presented clinically-significant psychological disturbances compared to 12% in the control group. Burn patients enjoyed a quality of life comparable to that of the control subjects, although they perceived some deterioration in their general health. More symptomatic than asymptomatic patients suffered from clinically-relevant somatization and obsessive-compulsive disturbances. CONCLUSIONS: Severely burned patients adjust relatively well, although some develop clinically-significant psychological disturbances such as somatization and phobic anxiety. Burn patients experiencing abnormal sensations in their healed wounds (i.e. symptomatic patients) do not suffer from maladjustment to a greater extent than their asymptomatic counterparts, although more symptomatic patients experience somatization and obsessive-compulsive behaviours.
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Some individuals adjust well to a visible difference.
“However, some individuals adjust well [13-15].”
From The role of psychological flexibility in appearance anxiety in people who have experienced a visible burn injury. (2019) · cites this paper as [13]
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- Authors
- ALTIER, N., MALENFANT, A., FORGET, R., & CHOINIÈRE, M.
- Affiliations
- Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CA)
- Venue
- Psychological Medicine
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2002-05
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 677-685
- ISSN
- 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8978
- OpenAlex
- W2024068095
- Cited by
- 59
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 0.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Burn Injury Management and Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Dermatology › Dermatologic Treatments and Research
- Keywords
- burns, quality of life, mental illness, somatization, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, phobic anxiety, paresthesia, pain, matched control comparison
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Aged, Burns, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Pain, Paresthesia, Personality Inventory, Psychophysics, Quality of Life, Sick Role, Somatoform Disorders, Case-Control Studies
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