Study finds mental health visits increase prior to burn injury

July 31 (UPI) -- A new study suggests that burn injuries may be preventable through increased access to high-quality mental health care.

The study, published July 31 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, examined the relationship between mental health and burn injury.

Researchers found that burn injury victims experience significantly higher rates of self-harm after their burn injury and mental health visits increase prior to burn injury.

"Better mental health care benefits not only the patients who might not end up injured in the first place, but we also need better mental health care after burn injury to link these patients up with the resources they need," Dr. Stephanie Mason, department of general surgery at the University of Toronto, said in a press release.

The study of 1,530 patients found that 94 percent had one or fewer mental health visits in the three years prior to their burn injury, with 6 percent having two or more mental health visits prior to injury. The greatest number of mental health visits occurred in the three months prior to a burn injury.

The rate of mental health visits after burn injury tripled for anxiety, mood disorders, substance abuse, self-harm and schizophrenia for those with relatively low visits for mental health services.

Patients who had frequent mental health visits prior to burn injury showed a decreased rate of mental health illness visits after injury and decreased rates of mood disorder and substance abuse.

"Among preinjury low utilizers [of mental health services], we observed significantly increased rates overall and for visits related to mood and anxiety disorders, self-harm, schizophrenia, and substance abuse visits after injury," the researchers wrote in the study.

According to researchers, mental illness is an independent risk factor for unintentional injury and injury recidivism.

"These data suggest that the treatment of mental illness might be an important target for burn prevention efforts," the researchers wrote. "The high rate of mental health visits in the three months immediately prior to burn injury also has implications for inpatient burn management. Patients with premorbid mental illness are more likely to experience delirium, have poor coping, and experience delayed wound healing."

The findings could also have an impact on preventing suicide, the researchers say.