Holistic View of Autografting Patients by Percentage of Total Body Surface Area Burned: Medical Record Abstraction Integrated with Administrative Claims

Abstract

Aim

This retrospective observational study provides a holistic view of the clinical and economic characteristics of inpatient treatment of patients with thermal burns undergoing autografting, by integrating real-world data (RWD) from medical records from healthcare providers (HCPs) and administrative claims.

Methods

We identified eligible patients between July 1, 2010, and November 30, 2019, from the HealthCore Integrated Research Database ^® (HIRD ^®) and obtained their medical records from HCPs. We abstracted data from medical records to describe patient demographics and clinical characteristics and obtained costs of treatment from claims.

Results

Two hundred patients were stratified into cohorts based on the percentage of total body surface area (%TBSA) burned: minor (< 10%), moderate (10%–24%), and major (≥ 25%). Data obtained from medical records and administrative claims were comparable to previous findings from administrative claims data. This privately insured study cohort predominantly consisted of White men. Diabetes mellitus and hypertension were frequently reported in a relatively young population. Key clinical characteristics that could influence burn treatment decisions and long-term outcomes, such as body mass index, size of autograft donor site, and mesh ratio, were frequently underdocumented in patients’ medical records.

Conclusion

Evidence generated from 2 orthogonal RWD sources confirmed that patients with larger %TBSA burned required more intensive care, thereby incurring higher costs. This study highlights considerable incompleteness in many critical fields in medical records, which limits the ability to generate broader insights. More comprehensive documentation of clinical characteristics and outcomes of autografts and donor sites in the operative and medical notes is critical to appropriately evaluate their impact on outcomes of burn treatments in future research using RWD.