Aim: Hypertension is a known complication following thermal injury, increasing morbidity still further. The objective was to examine the relationship of hormones known to affect blood pressure with burns in children.

Methods/Subjects: Observational cohort study of 11 children, mean age 3 years 1 month and mean burn size 22%, over 24 months. Arginine vasopressin (AVP), atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), angiotensin II (A II) and catecholamines were measured, with consent, in plasma (10 sample periods) in the 5 days after injury.

Interventions: None

Results: Burn size correlated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) between 7 and 36 hours (hrs) and at 85-108 hrs after admission, and with diastolic blood pressure (DBP) between 7 and 18 hrs after admission. Correlations were also found between AVP and SBP at admission (r=0.681, p=0.042). All and SBP at admission (r=0.770, p=0.012), AVP and SBP 13-18 hrs after admission (r=0.651, p=0.04), and between AVP and admission DBP (r=0.831, p=0.004). There was a negative correlation between ANP and DBP at the last time point of the study (85-108 hrs) (r=0.939, p=0.015). AVP, adrenaline, noradrenaline and ANP correlated with DBP when mean levels for all 10 sample periods of the study were considered.

Conclusion: The data suggest a strong association of AVP and AII with systolic blood pressure and of AVP with diastolic blood pressure soon after thermal injury, and of ANP with diastolic blood pressure later (108 hrs after injury).