Over a period of 21 years, researchers have found that nearly 361,000 children 5 years old and below were admitted to emergency rooms in the United States for injuries related to stroller or carrier use. That's equivalent to about two children getting hurt every hour!
For a study conducted by the Nationwide Children's Hospital and published online in Academic Pediatrics, researchers obtained information from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System operated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Using data from 1990 to 2010, they found that most of the children who had to pop in at emergency rooms fell from a stroller or carrier or when a stroller or carrier tipped over.
Additionally, the head and the face were the parts of the body most commonly injured during the fall. Many of the cases resulted in soft tissue injuries like bruises and bumps but still a quarter of them were traumatic brain injuries (TBI) or concussions. Additionally, over the course of the study TBI/concussion cases of injury involving strollers doubled, going from 19 percent in 1990 to 42 percent in 2010, while TBI/concussion cases involving carriers tripled, jumping from 18 percent in 1990 to 53 percent in 2010.
"While these products are used safely by families every day, when injuries do occur they can be quite serious," said Kristin Roberts, one of the study's authors. Roberts also highlighted the possibility of TBI and concussions having long-term effects on the cognitive development of children.
According to the data, most children were sent home after their injuries were treated but 2 percent of those with stroller-related injuries and 7 percent of those with carrier-related ones were hospitalized. This translates to a child being hospitalized every day for injuries related to strollers or carriers in the United States.
The researchers acknowledged that the number of overall injuries has dropped within the study period but maintain it remains unacceptably high. To help prevent injuries related to strollers and carriers, safety experts have a few recommendations, like always buckling up children, storing heavy items underneath a stroller and not on its handles, getting a model that fits the child and taking note of recalls.
Earlier in the month, another study was published highlighting the alarmingly large number of babies sleeping in unsafe environments. According to its findings, nine out of 19 parents are still putting their babies to bed with unsafe bedding and other items, with some still placing babies on their sides or stomachs and not on their backs when putting them down.
These practices are dangerous because they increase the risks of smothering, suffocating or sudden infant death syndrome.
Photo: Colin Bowern | Flickr
