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