CHILD BURNS AND NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT

Introduction: Burns constitute the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in infants, children and adolescents, as they rank in third position among deaths. Purpose: To explore nutritional support in children with severe burns. Methodology: A bibliographic research was conducted from the international PubMed online database for the period 2014-2019 in English. Results: Pediatric patients with severe burns who are treated in the Intensive Care Unit are likely to develop poor nutrition, which adversely affects basic functions. The primary goal of treating a patient with burns is to evaluate his nutrition which aims at the prognosis of the disease and the monitoring of his progress through the diet. In pediatric patients, severe burns lead to metabolic disorders which along with malnutricion increase the risk of inflections, change cell function and significantly reduce the rate of wound healing. Timely nutritional support reduces the incidence of paralytic ileus, mitigates the hyper-metabolic response, improves immune function and promotes faster wound healing. Conclusions:  Nutritional support in  pediatric patients with burns plays a crucial role in the outcome of the course of the disease and promotes faster healing of wounds.