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Depression & PTSD Risk for Burns

Depression and posttraumatic stress are common after a burn injury. Our investigators developed an admission scoring system that assesses the risk of developing depression or posttraumatic stress symptoms at 6 to 24 months after burn injury. This tool uses demographic and clinical characteristics known at hospital admission to identify a subgroup of the burn population at higher risk of long-term psychiatric symptoms. It is the authors' intention that this tool may be used to inform screening, monitoring, timely diagnosis, and interventions.

Authors

Post-Burn Depression & Posttraumatic Stress Risk Calculator

To use this calculator:

  1. Enter the demographic and clinical characteristics.
  2. Click Calculate Risk to get a total score.
  3. The point sum produced can be matched with a percent risk in the table below.
Gender*
Selection required to calculate risk.
Graft Size*
Selection required to calculate risk.
Head / Neck Graft*
Selection required to calculate risk.
Psychiatric Treatment in Past Year*
Selection required to calculate risk.
Etiology of Injury*
Selection required to calculate risk.
Education Level*
Selection required to calculate risk.

Sum of Points

Match this value with the correlating percent risk below
Risk Table
Point Sum Median Percent Risk Compared to Average Risk
0 9.9% < average risk
1 19.3% < average risk
2 34.5% 1.3 times the average risk
3 53.5% 2.0 times the average risk
4 71.6% 2.7 times the average risk
5 or more 84.6%+ 3.2 times the average risk

*Average risk: 26.6%

The information available on this website (together, the “Tool”) is provided solely for informational purposes and should only be used by licensed healthcare providers. The Tool was developed by clinicians at The Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Corporation (“Spaulding”) and is intended to provide decision support to healthcare providers who would like to use the scoring system described in Stockly OR, et al. Predicting Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Following Burn Injury: A Risk Scoring System. J Burn Care Res. 2022 Jul 1;43(4):899-905 as an aid in evaluating potential for development of depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms in hospital-admitted burn patients. The Tool is not intended to replace any screening or diagnostic tools, replace or direct medical judgment, or override or supersede guidance from government and health organizations, and it has not been reviewed or approved by FDA. The Tool is not intended for use by patients or caregivers who are not licensed healthcare providers.

The Tool is provided “AS IS.” Spaulding and any and all of its affiliated institutions, including but not limited to Mass General Brigham Incorporated (f/k/a Partners HealthCare System, Inc.), is not responsible for ensuring that use of the Tool will be clinically sound, without error, or otherwise successful. By choosing to use the Tool, a user assumes all risk and bears all responsibility and liability. Spaulding, and any and all of its affiliated institutions, specifically disclaims all warranties, express, implied or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and noninfringement.

Target Population

Burn survivors in an inpatient setting.

Publications

Stockly OR, Wolfe AE, Goldstein R, Roaten K, Wiechman S, Trinh NH, Goverman J, Stoddard FJ, Zafonte R, Ryan CM, Schneider JC. Predicting Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms Following Burn Injury: A Risk Scoring System. J Burn Care Res. 2021 Nov 9:irab215. doi: 10.1093/jbcr/irab215. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34751379.