Jammu:
Women constitute sixty percent of those with burn injuries here, a study said here on Wednesday.
The study -- Burns in Jammu: Retrospective analysis from a regional centre -- conducted by the department of surgery of the government medical college here also stated that among the total burn injuries suffered 80 percent of the victims were Hindus.
WHO has stated that every year 11 million people suffer burns injuries requiring medical attention. It also stated that South-East Asia has become the burn capital of the world with half of the 320,000 global deaths resulting from burns.
The study noted that among the total number of burn injuries two thirds of them affected females, primarily children and young women.
In this region, more children die from severe burns than from HIV/AIDS, malaria and respiratory disease combined.
"Seventy percent of the burn victims are in the most productive age group of 15-40 years and most of the patients belong to the poor socio-economic strata," said the study.
"Nearly 1-1.5 lakh people become crippled and require multiple surgical procedures, and prolonged rehabilitation. Fifty percent of those hospitalised succumb to their injuries."
India has an estimated annual burn incidence of 6-7 million, which is the second largest group of injuries after road accidents.
The figures are based on data extrapolated from major hospitals across the country.
The study further said that in the entire duration the distribution of burns according to gender remained almost constant with a clear female predominance.
"In terms of ethnicity, a clear majority of Hindu patients was observed throughout the years. The incidence in Hindus was found to be 81 percent."
The study was conducted on burn injury cases in the region between 1994 and 2014. The study will get published in Gangaram journal -- Current Medicine Research and Practice.
Mahesh Mangal, chairperson of the department of plastic surgery at the Delhi-based Gangaram hospital said: "Most burn victims we find are females and the reasons behind it are the highly inflammable dresses they wear, unsafe conditions in the kitchen and most importantly dowry-related misbehaviour meted out to daughters-in-law."
The study was conducted to identify and analyse the demographic and socio-cultural aspects of burn patients and the various etiological factors causing burns in the Jammu province.
"Despite clinical, socio-political and academic interest, little is known about the incidence and demographic characteristics of patients with major burns in India," said the researchers in a statement.