Effectiveness of Prophylactic Antibiotics in the Outpatient Treatment of Burns

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Abstract
Wound infection rates in 133 outpatient burns treated with prophylactic antibiotics in the emergency room and 161 similar, untreated burns were compared. Infection rates in the treated and untreated groups were 3.8% (5/133) and 3.1% (5/161), respectively. Since this was an observational cohort study, it was necessary to demostrate the comparability of treated and untreated groups with respect to risk factors for infection, including patient age, size, location and etiology of the burn injury, time since injury and presence of co-morbidity. The groups were comparable for all risk factors except size of burn: larger burns were over-represented in the treated group (P < 0.05). Even after controlling for size, antibiotic use did not lower the infection rate. These results argue strongly against the routine use of systemic antibiotics in the treatment of outpatient burns.