Thousands of Children Suffer Injuries Due to Strollers, Baby Carriers Each Year
According to a recently released study, thousands of children make their way to the emergency room each year due to injuries associated with baby carriers and strollers, many of them traumatic brain injuries.
Read More: Traumatic Brain Injury Attorney in Wisconsin
The study was published last week in the journal Academic Pediatrics.
“Investigators estimated that an average of 17,187 children younger than 5 were brought annually to the ER during the two-decade study with injuries ranging from mild to severe, though experts note that many of these kinds of injuries result from misuse of the products that are not necessarily dangerous in and of themselves,” an article released by ABC News reads. “The most common injuries were bumps and bruises, and they were often on the head and face, according to the study. But about one- quarter of patients visited the ERs for more serious conditions, such as concussions or traumatic brain injuries, of which a small percentage resulted in hospitalization and can have longer-term effects.”
A co-author of the study, Kristin Roberts of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio, said she has two small children and uses the products regularly. She said in the article that she was surprised at the number of injuries reported as a result of the products that landed children in the emergency room.
“Roberts and her co-investigators reached their conclusions after analyzing data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, which is operated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to provide information on consumer product and sports-related injuries treated in U.S. emergency rooms,” the article reads. “The researchers then combined that information with data from a sample of 100 hospitals and the U.S. Census Bureau to estimate national injury rates involving strollers and carriers, both the wearable and basket-like versions with handles.”
Results of the study show an estimated 360,937 children younger than 5 were brought to the emergency room during the study period, which was from 1990 to 2010.
While total stroller and carrier injuries decreased “significantly” during the 21-year study period, the percentage of serious traumatic brain injuries related to strollers and carriers increased to 53 percent of all injuries in 2010 from 18 percent in 1990, according to the study.
“Most injuries – or 60 to 65 percent — were a result of children’s falling from strollers and carriers, and another 15 to 30 percent occurred when the products tipped over,” the article reads. “The majority of patients were male (52.4 percent), younger than 1 (54.9 percent) and were not hospitalized (96.5 percent) for their injuries, according to the study.”
The “persistence of injury over time suggests more can be done,” Roberts said.
According to the article, new federal mandates have been issued in the last few years in an effort to make strollers and carriers even safer, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Elliot Kaye, chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said new regulations have been implemented since the end of the study period in 2010 that make strollers even safer today.
“The good news for parents who rely on strollers and carriers is that new federal mandatory safety standards for these products address many of the risks to children identified in this study,” Kaye said in a statement. “For this reason, my message to parents is: newer is better. Safer juvenile products that meet these mandatory standards are in stores and online today. They are designed and built with critical safety features that I strongly encourage parents to use each time their children are in a stroller or carrier.”
