Children's injury rate on a rise due to toppling TVs: study

Despite repeated warnings, more and more children are still falling prey to toppling TVs, which cause injuries that range from minor to fatal, Today reports. According to a new study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics, television sets falling on small children have become a main cause of an increasing number of severe head and neck injuries. Researchers claim that in the last 10 years, there has been a sharp rise in the number of children victimized by falling TVs.

"As a hazard in the home, it's the perfect storm. Kids are left unsupervised around a big television that is not properly secured. And the numbers are going up," Dr. Michael Cusimano, a professor of neurology, education and public health at the University of Toronto and a neurosurgeon at St. Michael's Hospital, and the study's lead author, explained.

Cusimano said, "Between 2006 and 2008 there were 16,500 injuries and between 2008 and 2010 there were 19,200. If you look at the sales of these TVs there's a parallel increase."

Researchers analyzed 29 medical literature in 7 countries to examine injuries caused by TVs, and found that as much as 84 percent of injuries occurred at home, and 75 percent of these occurred in the absence of an adult caregiver.

CBS News reports that according to the study, children with ages 1 to 3 have the highest risk, and injuries sustained by this age group are more severe than those of older children. Researchers also say that most injuries are inflicted when toddlers try to climb on furniture to access objects or toys, or when they bump onto unstable TV stands, causing it to fall.

"TVs are often placed on unstable bases, placed on high furniture like dressers, which aren't designed for TVs, or not properly secured to the wall," Cusimano explained. "Meanwhile, parents are getting busier and busier and don't have as much time to supervise children, so it's not surprising that these injuries are getting reported more often."

Cusimano also warns, "People have done the physics. With the heaviest TVs falling a meter onto a small kid's head is equivalent to the child falling 10 stories. These can potentially be fatal injuries."

Scott Wolfson, communications director for the US Consumer Products Safety Commission, told Today that TVs are not the only things around the house that pose a threat to young children.

"If you also bring in furniture components, there are some very compelling statistics. A child dies every two weeks in this country from a tipover incident involving a TV, a piece of furniture, or a TV and a piece of furniture. Every 24 minutes a child is admitted to the emergency room because of a TV and/or a furniture tipover," he said.

Wolfson added: "It just takes five minutes to anchor TVs and furniture to the wall...The solution is so simple. There are straps that can be easily purchased to anchor to the wall. There are L-brackets and tethering devices."

Additionally, Cusimano recommends that "clinicians take a more active role as advocates for prevention of these injuries, legislators become more open to implementing changes to current regulations, and caregivers employ the suggested prevention strategies at home."