CHICAGO, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Contrary to public perception, a Chicago hospital says most children who fall out of windows do so not from high rises but from first, second or third stories.
The study by Children's Memorial Hospital says 98 percent of the 30 to 40 children, who get seriously hurt or killed every year, fall from shorter buildings, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
Even falls from these relatively low heights can be serious, says the report. Nearly half the kids in such falls suffered skull fractures or other head injuries, and 23 percent suffered skeletal injuries such as broken bones.
The study by Dr. Karen Sheehan and colleagues is reported in the British medical journal Injury Prevention. It says in 90 percent of the cases studied, the children were 5 years old or younger.
The study said screens do not assure protection. It suggested not opening windows more than 4 inches, keeping furniture away from windows, opening windows from top down, and installing releasable window guards to prevent windows from opening more than 4 inches.
