Epidemiology of injuries from fire, heat and hot substances: global, regional and national morbidity and mortality estimates from the Global Burden of Disease 2017 study
Authors: James Spencer L , Lucchesi Lydia R , Bisignano Catherine , Castle Chris D , Dingels Zachary V , Fox Jack T , Hamilton Erin B , Henry Nathaniel J , McCracken Darrah , Roberts Nicholas L S , Sylte Dillon O , Ahmadi Alireza , Ahmed Muktar Beshir , Alahdab Fares , Alipour Vahid , Andualem Zewudu , Antonio Carl Abelardo T , Arabloo Jalal , Badiye Ashish D , Bagherzadeh Mojtaba , Banstola Amrit , Bärnighausen Till Winfried , Barzegar Akbar , Bayati Mohsen , Bhaumik Soumyadeep , Bijani Ali , Bukhman Gene , Carvalho Félix , Crowe Christopher Stephen , Dalal Koustuv , Daryani Ahmad , Nasab Mostafa Dianati , Do Hoa Thi , Do Huyen Phuc , Endries Aman Yesuf , Fernandes Eduarda , Filip Irina , Fischer Florian , Fukumoto Takeshi , Gebremedhin Ketema Bizuwork Bizuwork , Gebremeskel Gebreamlak Gebremedhn , Gilani Syed Amir , Haagsma Juanita A , Hamidi Samer , Hostiuc Sorin , Househ Mowafa , Igumbor Ehimario U , Ilesanmi Olayinka Stephen , Irvani Seyed Sina Naghibi , Jayatilleke Achala Upendra , Kahsay Amaha , Kapoor Neeti , Kasaeian Amir , Khader Yousef Saleh , Khalil Ibrahim A , Khan Ejaz Ahmad , Khazaee-Pool Maryam , Kokubo Yoshihiro , Lopez Alan D , Madadin Mohammed , Majdan Marek , Maled Venkatesh , Malekzadeh Reza , Manafi Navid , Manafi Ali , Mangalam Srikanth , Massenburg Benjamin Ballard , Meles Hagazi Gebre , Menezes Ritesh G , Meretoja Tuomo J , Miazgowski Bartosz , Miller Ted R , Mohammadian-Hafshejani Abdollah , Mohammadpourhodki Reza , Morrison Shane Douglas , Negoi Ionut , Nguyen Trang Huyen , Nguyen Son Hoang , Nguyen Cuong Tat , Nixon Molly R , Olagunju Andrew T , Olagunju Tinuke O , Padubidri Jagadish Rao , Polinder Suzanne , Rabiee Navid , Rabiee Mohammad , Radfar Amir , Rahimi-Movaghar Vafa , Rawaf Salman , Rawaf David Laith , Rezapour Aziz , Rickard Jennifer , Roro Elias Merdassa , Roy Nobhojit , Safari-Faramani Roya , Salamati Payman , Samy Abdallah M , Satpathy Maheswar , Sawhney Monika , Schwebel David C , Senthilkumaran Subramanian , Sepanlou Sadaf G , Shigematsu Mika , Soheili Amin , Stokes Mark A , Tohidinik Hamid Reza , Tran Bach Xuan , Valdez Pascual R , Wijeratne Tissa , Yisma Engida , Zaidi Zoubida , Zamani Mohammad , Zhang Zhi-Jiang , Hay Simon I , Mokdad Ali H 
Published: December 2019

Background

Past research has shown how fires, heat and hot substances are important causes of health loss globally. Detailed estimates of the morbidity and mortality from these injuries could help drive preventative measures and improved access to care.

Methods

We used the Global Burden of Disease 2017 framework to produce three main results. First, we produced results on incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, deaths, years of life lost and disability-adjusted life years from 1990 to 2017 for 195 countries and territories. Second, we analysed these results to measure mortality-to-incidence ratios by location. Third, we reported the measures above in terms of the cause of fire, heat and hot substances and the types of bodily injuries that result.

Results

Globally, there were 8 991 468 (7 481 218 to 10 740 897) new fire, heat and hot substance injuries in 2017 with 120 632 (101 630 to 129 383) deaths. At the global level, the age-standardised mortality caused by fire, heat and hot substances significantly declined from 1990 to 2017, but regionally there was variability in age-standardised incidence with some regions experiencing an increase (eg, Southern Latin America) and others experiencing a significant decrease (eg, High-income North America).

Conclusions

The incidence and mortality of injuries that result from fire, heat and hot substances affect every region of the world but are most concentrated in middle and lower income areas. More resources should be invested in measuring these injuries as well as in improving infrastructure, advancing safety measures and ensuring access to care.