Examining the role of post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain and opioid use in burn patients: A multi-cohort analysis

Burn injuries can cause serious problems like infections and organ failure, and they sometimes lead to death. Severe burns affect about 4.4% of all burn cases and can be deadly in nearly 18% of those cases. They cause inflammation that can lead to long-term heart, metabolism, and thinking problems. These injuries can also cause mental health issues like PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).PTSD means people might relive their trauma through bad memories or nightmares, avoid thinking about it, and feel different emotions for at least a month after it happens. People who survive burns often get PTSD because the injury is so traumatic and takes a long time to heal. Between 2% and 30% of burn survivors might feel very stressed soon after, and up to 40% could have PTSD within six months.People with PTSD from burns often also have depression and anxiety because recovering and going back to normal life is tough. Doctors often give strong painkillers called opioids to burn patients, but they can be very addictive. People with PTSD and opioid problems often also have other mental health issues. A study in 2023 found that 80% of burn patients with opioid problems also had other mental health problems. This shows how important it is to treat pain and mental health carefully in burn survivors.This study looks at how PTSD affects opioid use in people with burns. It uses data from many hospitals to see if PTSD makes pain worse and makes people use more opioids after surgery. Learning about this can help doctors find better treatments and stop people from using opioids too much if they have PTSD from a burn.