LOS ANGELES — More than 5,000 children a year go to the emergency room after falling from windows, a study in the journal Pediatrics finds. The study, released Monday, examines patterns of such falls in children up to age 17 and finds that younger children may be at greater risk overall.
Researchers looked at data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System from 1990 to 2008. In that time there were 98,415 children treated in hospital emergency rooms after sustaining a window fall, averaging 5,180 patients per year. Patients were grouped by age, 4 years and younger — the higher-risk group — and from 5 to 17 years old.
The average age of an injured child was 5.1 years, and children 4 years and younger made up 64.8 percent of the injuries, which peaked at ages 1 and 2. Boys sustained more injuries than girls (8.3 vs. 6.3 per 100,000 children).
The study authors saw an overall decrease and leveling off in the rate of injuries from window falls among children 4 and younger. That could be, they said, from caregivers being more aware about safety, better window construction and the use of window guards.
