How would you like your tea, vicar?

Introduction: Scald injuries are the commonest cause of paediatric burns leading to hospital admission both in the United Kingdom (National Burn Care Review Committee Report; 2001) and around the world. The cost and significant morbidity resulting from scald injuries reiterates the need for effective prevention campaigns for primary caregivers. The majority of scalds in children occur in the kitchen (49%) at home. Three children a day under the age of 5 (1100/year) are involved in scalds resulting from pulling on a cup of beverage onto themselves. We therefore aim to study the temperature of common beverages made at home and their potential to cause significant thermal injury.

Materials and methods: Common household beverages were formulated to assess the thermal characteristics. Each beverage was made in a standardized environment with constant ambient temperature of 22 degrees C. Beverages were made in 230 ml ceramic mugs, using boiled water from an electric kettle, instant coffee granules and teabags. Hot milk and hot water were prepared for comparison. Temperature readings were taken from 0 to 10 min. Cooling curves were then plotted.

Results: Milky beverages had the lowest starting temperatures (75-77 degrees C). Black tea and black coffee remained at temperatures greater than 65 degrees C despite cooling for 10 min. The addition of sugar did not alter the cooling rate. Similarly there was very little difference in cooling rates for skimmed and full fat milk. Addition of 10 ml rather than 5 ml of milk lowered the starting temperature and increased the cooling rates.

Discussion/conclusion: Hot beverages can cause significant scald injuries especially in the paediatric population. We demonstrated the potential for a full thickness burn despite cooling for 10 min or the addition of cold milk. Thus the complacent attitude surrounding beverages under such conditions should be abolished. Our work also reiterates the need for education amongst caregivers regarding the handling of hot beverages in order to reduce the number of household injuries.