Every three minutes an American child ends up in an emergency room due to a toy-related injury, according to a new study from the Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Researchers analyzed data from the U.S. National Electronic Injury Surveillance System from 1990 to 2011. They found 3,278,073 children and adolescents aged 17 and under were treated for toy-related injuries in an emergency department. More than half of the injuries were in children under the age of five. Overall, toy-related injuries increased by 40 percent between 1990 to 2011.

One of the big causes for the increase in toy-related injuries is foot-powered scooters. The report noted that scooters caused 580,037 injuries between 2000 to 2011. This is one injury every 11 minutes. In general, riding toys, such as tricycles, wagons, and scooters, caused 42 percent of injuries in ages 5 to 17 and 28 percent of injuries in children under 5. Children using riding toys were three times more likely to dislocate or break a bone than children who played with other types of toys.

The study was published in Clinical Pediatrics and noted that improving toy safety standards, product design, education and recalls could help lower the number of toy-related injuries.

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Sourced from: medicalnewstoday.com, Injuries related to toys increase by 40% in the US

Diabetes affects many organs in the body, including the brain. A new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found being diagnosed with diabetes as a middle-aged adult may increase the rate of cognitive decline over the next 20 years.

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health analyzed 15,792 middle-aged adults from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Every three years participants underwent a health assessment during four doctor visits from 1987 to 1998. A fifth assessment was between 2011 and 2013. During one of these assessments, cognitive function was tested.

The cognitive decline of the participants was then compared to the cognitive decline of the general population. The results indicated that people with poorly controlled diabetes were 19 percent more likely to have cognitive decline—such as memory loss, forgetting words and executive function problems—than people who did not have diabetes. The people with severe diabetes experienced cognitive decline about five years sooner than those without the condition. Researchers also found pre-diabetics were at a higher risk of cognitive decline but their risk was less than those with poorly controlled diabetes.

The study highlights the importance of maintaining blood sugars and controlling diabetes through diet, exercise and lifestyle. One researcher noted that preventing and controlling diabetes may also help reduce the number of dementia cases.

NEXT: Toy injuries jump by 40 percent

Sourced from: medicalnewstoday.com, Midlife diabetes linked to increased risk of cognitive decline

According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of people dying from drug overdoses in the U.S. has more than doubled, jumping from about 17,000 in 1999 to roughly 41,000 in 2012.

More specifically, the number of fatal drug overdoses jumped from 6.1 deaths per 100,000 people in 1999 to 13.1 deaths per 100,000 people in 2012. West Virginia had the highest death rate at 32 people per 100,000. Other states close behind included New Mexico (24.7), Utah (23.1), and Nevada (21).

One of the most staggering statistics from the report is that heroin-related deaths almost tripled in that time period, with around 6,000 deaths. One positive note is that the number of deaths due to painkiller overdoses actually dropped 5 percent from 2011 to 2012,

Some experts have suggested that the increase in drug overdoses is tied to the easy accessibility to prescription drugs and the tendency of some doctors to overprescribe them. Also, because prescription monitoring is not mandatory in some states, it’s not difficult for patients to “doctor shop” and get painkillers from multiple doctors.  Public health experts say that they’ve seen an increase in heroin use by people who first became addicted to opioid painkillers.

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Sourced from: livescience.com, Drug Overdose-Related Deaths Double from 1999 to 2012