Upholstered furniture falls are the leading cause of injury in young children

(Reuters Health) – According to new research, accidents on sofas and beds are now the leading cause of injury among children aged 4 and under in the United States and a major cause of injury in infants.

"Parents, family members and caregivers should be aware of the risk of leaving a baby or child unattended on a bed or couch, regardless of the level of softness of the furniture or the distance separates them from their child, "co-author of the study Dr. Viachaslau Bradko informed Reuters Health by email.

"Just as health care providers are discussing special car seats for safe transportation of children, they need to remind families of the dangers of seemingly benign furniture for an unattended child," he said. said Bradko, an orthopedic surgeon at Texas Children's Hospital.

His team presented its findings on Nov. 5 at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Orlando, Florida.

Researchers analyzed a decade of data on injuries treated in emergency rooms by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Injury Surveillance System.

The sampling and analysis revealed that about 2.3 million children under the age of 5 had been treated for sofar and bed related injuries in 2007-2016. This translates into an annual average of 115.2 injuries per 10,000 children in this age group in the general population.

Numbers place upholstered furniture ahead of other causes of injury. The second most common cause, stair-related accidents, occurred at an average rate of 46.8 per 10,000 children during the study period.

"We were surprised by the frequency of these injuries.In fact, we found that they were three times more frequent than the injuries caused by the stairs," Bradko said.

Infants less than 12 months of age had a greater than average share of injuries caused by upholstered furniture, accounting for 27.7% of the total. Younger patients were also twice as likely to be hospitalized.

The study found that boys accounted for slightly more casualties among injured than girls, at 55%. Soft tissue injuries and lacerations were the most common types of injuries. Three out of five children had injuries to the face and head.

If there is good news, it is possible that few of these injuries – only 2.7% – required hospitalization. But the bad news is that these injuries seem to be more and more common. During the study period, bed and couch related injuries increased by almost 17% overall.

"In reality, the numbers are even higher because not all falls mean that the child goes to the emergency department," said Dr. Jordan Taylor of the University's Faculty of Medicine. from Stanford, California, who did not participate in the research.

"As the authors mention, these falls often do not result in hospitalization, but the costs for all emergency visits are considerable.Education and prevention are probably the key to reversing this trend. , although many studies look more closely at the type of injury might be helpful, "noted Taylor.

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2PhWNOE Meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics, posted on November 5, 2018.