{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T07:11:55Z","timestamp":1789456315760,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,6]],"date-time":"2025-10-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1759708800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Acute burn care is heavily resource-dependent and thus was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to examine the relationship between COVID-19 and the length of stay (LOS) in hospital following burn injury, as prolonged admissions have implications on both individuals and healthcare systems. Additionally, this study explored how COVID-19 affected the homeless burn population, as homelessness has been associated with longer hospital admissions due to limited post-discharge resources. Single-center, retrospective cohort study using data from the Burn Registry and medical chart review with inclusion of all adult burn patients admitted to a quaternary provincial burn unit from April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2023. Patients admitted prior to April 1, 2020, were considered the pre-COVID cohort. Key variables included demographic characteristics and LOS, with homelessness defined as a lack of a fixed address. Of 498 included patients, 301 and 197 were in the pre-COVID and COVID cohorts, respectively. While both cohorts had similar age and gender distributions, a significant difference was noted in LOS between cohorts, with COVID cohort patients staying in hospital for 22 (24) days compared to 20 (29) days in the pre-COVID cohort. More notably, a 58% increase in homeless patients was seen during COVID, with 17% (50\/301) of admitted patients being homeless pre-COVID compared to 26% (52\/197) during COVID (P &amp;lt; .05). The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a slightly increased LOS in burn patients, with homeless patients disproportionately affected. This has important implications for both patient outcomes and healthcare resource allocation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/jbcr\/iraf192","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,5]],"date-time":"2025-10-05T11:45:00Z","timestamp":1759664700000},"page":"541-546","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["The Effect of COVID-19 on Length of Stay in Hospital and Patient Population Following Burn Injury"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"47","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9074-8255","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sara","family":"Sheikh-Oleslami","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, BC ,","place":["Canada"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bettina","family":"Papp","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Science, Capilano University , North Vancouver, BC ,","place":["Canada"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anthony","family":"Papp","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, BC ,","place":["Canada"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026030600215640500_ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5","DOI":"10.1097\/MLR.0b013e318206c50d","article-title":"Hospital costs and length of stay among homeless patients admitted to medical, surgical, and psychiatric services","volume":"49","author":"Hwang","year":"2011","journal-title":"Med Care"},{"key":"2026030600215640500_ref2"},{"key":"2026030600215640500_ref3"},{"key":"2026030600215640500_ref4","first-page":"83","article-title":"Evaluation of prognostic factors affecting length of stay in hospital and mortality rates in acute burn 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