Comparison of Burn Severity and Mortality Evaluation Tools in Older Patients

The global population of older adults is expanding at an unprecedented rate, demanding greater focus on their health care needs. Older individuals are particularly susceptible to burn injuries, and complications are more likely to develop in these patients. Therefore, accurate assessment of burn severity is essential. Among the various scoring systems used worldwide to predict mortality in patients with burns, the burn index (BI) and Prognostic BI (PBI) have been routinely applied in Japan since the 1980s. However, with both overall life expectancy and healthy life expectancy steadily increasing in Japan, the PBI may now overestimate mortality risk in today's older adults. Here, we review BI, PBI, and global burn severity assessment tools to highlight their differences and discuss their applicability in older patients, drawing in part on the authors' clinical experience.