This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Nursery product-related injuries continue to rise in young children
Despite a significant decline in child injuries linked to baby walkers, jumpers and exercisers from 1991 to 2003, the number of injuries attributed to these products, as well as baby carriers, cribs/mattresses, and strollers, has since increased by 23%.
“Nursery product safety is a critical yet challenging issue in injury prevention, complicated by the rapid anatomic, motor, and cognitive development of young children, as well as injury profiles unique to specific products based on their design and use,” Christopher E. Gaw, BS, from Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues wrote. “Identification of injury characteristics and patterns associated with nursery products [are] therefore essential in pinpointing areas of greatest concern for caregivers, health care providers, manufacturers and policy makers.”
To determine the nature of injuries linked to nursery products, the researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System for patients aged younger than 3 years who sustained an injury from a nursery product from 1991 to 2011.
In the 21 years analyzed in this study, an estimated 1,391,884 children aged younger than 3 years were treated in EDs for nursery product-related injuries. Although the annual injury rate decreased by 33.9% from 1991 to 2003, Gaw and colleagues found that the injury rate subsequently increased 23.7% from 2003 to 2011.
The researchers credited the initial decrease to fewer walker-, jumper- and exerciser-related injuries, whereas the increase beginning in 2003 was attributed to a significant increase in concussions and closed head injuries.
Among the injury-causing nursery products, baby carriers caused 19.5% of injuries, cribs and mattresses caused 18.6%; strollers and carriages caused 16.5%; and baby walkers, jumpers and exercisers caused 16.2%. Self-precipitated falls were responsible for 80.0% of all injuries, and the most commonly injured area of the body was either the head or neck (47.1%).
“Since enactment of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which — among other requirements — mandated safety standards for all durable infant or toddler products, product recalls have begun to decline,” researchers wrote. “However, components of the law are continuing to be phased-in, and its effects on nursery product-related injuries is unlikely to be reflected in the results of the present study. Future research is warranted to assess the effects of this important consumer product legislation on nursery product-related injuries [in] children.” – by Katherine Bortz
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
