Burns take a toll on academic outcomes

Date:
July 10, 2023
Source:
Macquarie University
Summary:
A common childhood injury has been shown to slash school completion
rates, adding to evidence that found being hospitalized can have
a long- lasting effect on young people.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A new study published in the BMJ's Archives of Disease in Childhood has
found young people of both sexes who were hospitalised due to burns were
less likely to finish high school than their peers.

Led by Associate Professor Rebecca Mitchell from the Australian Institute
of Health Innovation (AIHI) at Macquarie University, the research compared
the academic performance and high school completion rates of about 2000
young people to matched peers who had not been hospitalised for an injury.

The study found that the young people who had been burned were four
times as likely to not finish Year 10, and more than twice as likely to
not finish Year 11 or Year 12.

This research is the latest in a series of studies looking at the
effects of hospitalisation for injuries and illnesses including broken
bones, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy and mental health on young people's educational outcomes.

The research team used linked birth, health and education records in New
South Wales from 2005 to 2018 to analyse national literacy and numeracy
test results and high school completion.

To create a peer comparison group, each hospitalised young person was
matched against a randomly selected peer of the same age and gender who
lived in the same postcode but had not been hospitalised for an injury.

In the case of the burns patients, the most common cause of injury was
contact with hot drinks, food, fats or cooking oils, followed by other
hot fluids including hot or boiling water.

Almost all of the children in the burns cohort had more than 10 per cent
of the surface of their bodies affected, with torsos the most commonly
injured area, followed by hands or wrists.

Associate Professor Mitchell says in addition to an increased risk of
not finishing high school, girls who had burn injuries also had a higher
risk of not achieving the national minimum standards in reading.

"Reasons why young females hospitalised with a burn have worse academic performance for reading could include reduced learning opportunities,
school absenteeism, or psychosocial anxieties due to lower self-esteem
and stigmatisation," she says.

"This research shows that we need to monitor academic progression in
young people after they sustain a burn to identify if they require any
learning support." Paediatric burns specialist and co-author Professor
Andrew Holland says while most burns occur early in childhood, the effects
can extend far beyond the initial period of acute care and recovery.

"In some cases, burns patients experience ongoing pain and poor sleep
quality, which can disrupt a young person's ability to engage and learn,"
he says.

"In addition to this, scarring can have an influence on their motivation
or ability to attend school."
* RELATED_TOPICS
o Health_&_Medicine
# Children's_Health # Healthy_Aging # Teen_Health #
Chronic_Illness
o Mind_&_Brain
# Child_Psychology # K-12_Education # Child_Development #
Infant_and_Preschool_Learning
* RELATED_TERMS
o Brain_damage o Head_injury o Delirium o Education o
Social_cognition o Early_childhood_education o MMR_vaccine
o Confirmation_bias

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========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Nicole Halim, Andrew J A Holland, Anne McMaugh, Cate M Cameron,
Reidar P
Lystad, Tim Badgery-Parker, Rebecca Mitchell. Impact of childhood
burns on academic performance: a matched population-based cohort
study.

Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2023; archdischild-2023-325769
DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2023-325769 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230710113905.htm

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