Publications by authors named "K J Kowalske"
Background: Adults living with head and neck burn injuries experience psychosocial consequences due to scarring as well as functional disabilities. However, the impact of head and neck burns on long-term self-reported psychosocial outcomes, return to work, and need for reconstructive surgery has not been well described. This study investigates the unique longitudinal problems in psychosocial and functional recovery faced by adults with head and neck burn injuries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: A national database is used to evaluate pediatric burn survivor outcomes, but the generalizability to the United States pediatric burn injury population is unclear, as only 60% of enrollees are U.S. residents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReturn to work (RTW) after burn injury is dependent on many variables, including type and location of burn injury, access to care, and pre-injury mental and physical health. Noting that prior studies were limited by small sample sizes, we aimed to use a large database to explore the associations between hand burn severity, functional hand outcomes, and RTW post-injury. Data from a multicenter longitudinal study were analyzed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- - This study investigates how insurance status impacts long-term health outcomes, particularly physical and mental health, in burn patients using national data from 1997 to 2020.
- - It found that most burn patients had private insurance, and those with Medicaid or Medicare reported significantly worse mental and physical health scores at various time points compared to those with private insurance.
- - The conclusion highlights that having Medicaid or Medicare is linked to a lower quality of life in burn patients long after their injury, regardless of other factors like demographics or the severity of the burn.
Introduction: Community-level disadvantage is associated with reduced quality of life after burn injury. We evaluated the association between community-level disadvantage and return to work after burn injury.
Methods: A multicenter burn injury database was queried from 1998-2021.