Furniture and television tip-over injuries to children treated in United States emergency departments

Abstract Background Furniture and television tip-over injuries are an important source of injury to children, especially those younger than 6 years old. A current epidemiologic evaluation of tip-over injuries is needed, especially considering changes in the voluntary safety standard for clothing sto...

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Main Authors: Chang Lu (Author), Jaahnavi Badeti (Author), Tracy J. Mehan (Author), Motao Zhu (Author), Gary A. Smith (Author)
Format: Book
Published: BMC, 2021-08-01T00:00:00Z.
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001 doaj_8a8d2d64a3ee4d82b676b1f3340e8ebd
042 |a dc 
100 1 0 |a Chang Lu  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Jaahnavi Badeti  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Tracy J. Mehan  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Motao Zhu  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Gary A. Smith  |e author 
245 0 0 |a Furniture and television tip-over injuries to children treated in United States emergency departments 
260 |b BMC,   |c 2021-08-01T00:00:00Z. 
500 |a 10.1186/s40621-021-00346-6 
500 |a 2197-1714 
520 |a Abstract Background Furniture and television tip-over injuries are an important source of injury to children, especially those younger than 6 years old. A current epidemiologic evaluation of tip-over injuries is needed, especially considering changes in the voluntary safety standard for clothing storage units (CSUs) and the shift in the consumer market from cathode ray tube to flat-screen televisions (TVs), and a decline in household TV ownership during recent years. The objective of this study is to update our understanding of the epidemiologic characteristics and trends of furniture (especially CSU) and TV tip-over injuries treated in United States emergency departments among children < 18 years old. Methods This study retrospectively analyzed data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System from 1990 to 2019. Trends in population-based rates were evaluated with regression techniques. All numbers of cases are expressed as national estimates. Results An estimated 560,203 children < 18 years old were treated in United States emergency departments for furniture or TV tip-over injuries during the 30-year study period, averaging 18,673 children annually. CSUs were involved in 17.2% (n = 96,321) of tip-overs, and TVs accounted for 41.1% (n = 230,325), which included 16,904 tip-overs (3.0%) that involved both a CSU and TV. The rate of furniture and TV tip-over injuries among children < 18 years old increased by 53.8% (p < 0.0001) from 1990 to 2010, and then decreased by 56.8% (p < 0.0001) from 2010 to 2019. Almost half (47.0%) of injuries occurred to the head/neck; 3.4% of children were admitted to the hospital. Children < 6 years old accounted for 69.9% of furniture and TV tip-over injuries overall; they accounted for 82.5% of CSU-related and 74.7% of TV-related tip-over injuries. Conclusions Despite the decline in tip-over injuries since 2010, more should be done to prevent these injuries, especially among children < 6 years old, because the number of injuries remains high, outcomes can be life-threatening, and effective prevention strategies are known. Safety education, warning labels, and promotion and use of tip restraint devices, while important, are not a substitute for strengthening and enforcing the stability requirements for CSUs and TVs. 
546 |a EN 
690 |a Tip-over 
690 |a Furniture 
690 |a Clothing storage unit 
690 |a Television 
690 |a Injury 
690 |a Trauma 
690 |a Medical emergencies. Critical care. Intensive care. First aid 
690 |a RC86-88.9 
690 |a Public aspects of medicine 
690 |a RA1-1270 
655 7 |a article  |2 local 
786 0 |n Injury Epidemiology, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2021) 
787 0 |n https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-021-00346-6 
787 0 |n https://doaj.org/toc/2197-1714 
856 4 1 |u https://doaj.org/article/8a8d2d64a3ee4d82b676b1f3340e8ebd  |z Connect to this object online.