The incidence of hospitalized burn injury in upstate New York.

Burn injury is an important public health problem and yet the incidence of these injuries is unknown. Most studies have been confined to a limited number of hospitals. Although that type of study is valuable for evaluating treatment, there are no known studies which convincingly provide incidence rates in representative populations. Without such data the true dimensions of the problem cannot be known. A 100 per cent one-year survey of hospitalized burn injuries in New York State exclusive of New York City has provided a measure of incidence, possibly the only measure of bum injury incidence in a large and representative population in the United States.