Dec. 9 (UPI) -- On average, 9400 children ages three and under were treated in ERs each year between 2003 and 2010 for injuries related to high chairs and booster chairs.
That's an average of about 24 children per day, and that rate was increasing year-on-year.
The findings of the study, published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics, showed that 93 percent of the injuries involved a fall.
In cases which reported what the child was doing before the fall, two-thirds were either standing or climbing in the chair. This suggests that safety restraints were either not being used or ineffective.
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“High chairs are typically used in kitchens and dining areas, so when a child falls from the elevated height of the high chair, he is often falling head first onto a hard surface such as tile or wood flooring with considerable force. This can lead to serious injuries,” said researcher Gary Smith of Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Closed head injuries, which are concussions and internal head injuries, were most common, with 37 percent cases. 33 percent of treated children had bumps or bruises and 19 percent had cuts.
The number of such injuries increased by almost 90 percent from 2,558 in 2003 to 4,789 in 2010. Body regions most commonly injured were the head and neck, followed by the face.
While the numbers are high for booster chairs and high chairs, its more than four times as high for ordinary chairs. Climbing and falling were again the main causes for injury. Nearly 40,000 children visited the ER each year of the study period with regular chair-related injuries, with these children more likely to sustain broken bones, bruises and cuts.
[Nationwide Children’s Hospital] [Clinical Pediatrics]
