Safety Tips
Home Safety Fact Sheet (2015)
Fatalities Suffocation: 1,268 children ages 19 and under died from suffocation in 2013.1
• 77% of children (979) who suffocated were under the age of 1 year.1
• 60% of children (757) who suffocated were boys.1
• In 2013, 819 children under 1 year old died from accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed. 155 children died from choking on food or another object.2 Falls: 123 children ages 19 and under died in falls in 2013.1
• 50% of children (62) who died in falls were ages 15 to 19.1
• 67% of children (83) who died in falls were boys.1 TV & furniture tip-overs: On average, 26 children die from injuries related to TV, furniture and appliance tip-overs each year.3 Toys: 9 toy-related deaths in children under the age of 15 years were reported to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2013.4 Button batteries: 3 children under the age of 6 died from button battery ingestion and were reported to poison control centers in 2013.5
1999-2013 Fall and Suffocation Fatalities and Death Rates Among Children Ages 19 and Under
1400
1350
1160 1176 1169 1226 1268
1.04 1.07 1.15 1.17 1.12
232 180 209 178 203 194 159 180 178 168 151 127 138 130 123
0.5
01999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
2.5
20
1263
1200
1164
1031 1047
1000 s htaeDf or ebmuN832 864 929 953 910 D800
1.26 1.28
600
1.41 1.53 1.62
1.39 1.41 1.41 1.49 1.54
1.5
e taRh tae1400
200
0.29 0.22 0.26 0.22 0.25 0.24 0.19 0.22 0.22 0.2 0.18 0.15 0.17 0.16 0.15
Year Suffocation Death Rate Fall Death Rate Suffocation Deaths Fall Deaths
Death Rate per 100,000 Children
1
Injuries Suffocation: 22,041 children were seen in emergency departments for nonfatal suffocation
or inhalation injuries in 2013.1 Falls: 2,578,235 children were seen in emergency departments for nonfatal falls in 2013.1 TV & furniture tip-overs: 22,200 children ages 19 and under are seen in emergency departments for injuries related to TV, furniture and appliance tip-overs each year, on average.3 Toys: 188,400 children under the age of 15 years were seen in emergency departments for toy-related injuries in 2013.4 Button batteries: Poison control centers reported 2,759 cases of children ages 19 and under swallowing button batteries in 2013.5
Additional Statistics
Suffocation
• In 2010, cribs and playpens were responsible for more than 20 percent of all nursery product- related emergency department-treated injuries among children ages 5 and under.7
• The majority of childhood suffocation, choking and strangulation incidents occur in the home.8 9
Falls
• Window falls account for approximately 8 deaths and 3,300 injuries among children ages 5 and under annually.10
• The risk of a child being injured as a result of a fall at home is twice the risk as at child-care.11
• Window falls occur more frequently in large urban areas and low-income neighborhoods.12 13
• In New York City and Boston, education and window guard distribution programs resulted in a 96 percent reduction in the incidence of window falls over 10 years.14
TV/Furniture tip-overs
• The estimated number of emergency room visits for TV tip-over-related injuries for children ages 19 and under has increased 31% over the last decade, from 9,800 in 2002 to 12,800 in 2011.6
• Because of its weight, a 36-inch CRT television falling three feet creates the same momentum as a 1-year-old child falling 10 stories.15
• Approximately $8.34 million is spent in medical costs each year to treat children ages 19 and under in emergency departments for injuries from TV tip-overs.6 16
• 7 out of 10 (72%) of children who are injured by a TV tipping over are 5 years old or younger.6
Toys
• 44% of toy-related injuries are to the head and face.4
• One-third of toy-related injuries occur in children under the age of 5 years.4
• The category of toy responsible for the most toy-related injuries in children under the age of 15 years are nonmotorized scooters, accounting for 28% of injuries.4
2
Button batteries
• In two hours, a button battery ingestion can cause severe, often irreparable damage to a child. Most severe complications effect the esophagus.17
• The average age of a child seen in the emergency department for swallowing a button battery is 3.9 years.18
• Button batteries are involved in 84% of all battery-related emergency department visits, for which a battery type was identified.19
• When a button battery gets stuck in a child’s throat, the saliva triggers an electrical current that causes a chemical reaction which burns the esophagus. Damage can continue even after the battery is removed.17
• The number of serious injuries or deaths as a result of button batteries has increased more than 9-fold in the past decade.5
References 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Website. Unintentional falls and suffocation fatalities and nonfatal injuries, children ages 19 and under. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html. Accessed February 23, 2015. 2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2012 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released 2014. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2012, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/ucd-icd10.html on Feb 23, 2015. 3 Suchy A. Product Instability or Tip-Over Injuries and Fatalities Associated with Televisions, Furniture, and Appliances: 2014 Report. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, August 2014. 4 Tu Y. Toy-Related Deaths and Injuries Calendar Year 2013. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, November 2014. 5 National Capital Poison Center. Button Battery Ingestion Statistics. Available at: http://www.poison.org/battery/stats.asp. Accessed November 5, 2014. 6 Ferguson RW, Mickalide AD. A Report to the Nation on Home Safety: The Dangers of TV Tip-Overs. Washington, DC: Safe Kids Worldwide, December 2012. 7 Chowdhury RT. Nursery product-related injuries and deaths among children under age five. Bethesda, MD: Consumer Product Safety Commission, Division of Hazard Analysis; December 2011. 8 Reilly JS, Walter MA. Consumer product aspiration and ingestion in children: analysis of emergency room reports to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 1992. 101: 739-41. 9 Children’s Hospital Boston. Airway obstruction. Children’s Hospital Boston Website. Available at: http://www.childrenshospital.org/health- topics/conditions/airway-obstruction. Accessed November 5, 2014. 10 United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. CPSC: Parents, caregivers should consider safety before opening windows, April 8, 2011. Washington, DC: Office of Information and Public Affairs. 11 Khambalia A, Joshi P, Brussoni M, Raina P, Morrongiello B, Macarthur C. Risk factors for unintentional injuries due to falls in children ages 0-6 years: a systematic review. Inj Prev. 2006. 12(6): 378-385. 12 Stone KE, Lanphear BP, et al. Childhood injuries and deaths due to falls from windows. J Urban Health: Bulletin of the NY Academy of Med. 2000. 77(1): 26-33. 13 Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention. Falls from heights: windows, roofs and balconies. Pediatrics. 2001. 107(5): 1188-1191. 14 Harris VA, Rochette LM, Smith GA. Pediatric injuries attributable to falls from windows in the United States in 1990-2008. Pediatrics. 2011. 128(3): 455-462. 15 Bernard PA, Johnston C, Curtis SE, King WD. Toppled television sets cause significant pediatric morbidity and mortality. Pediatrics. 1998. 102(3):E32. 16 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports, 2005. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/cost/cost-learn-more.html. Accessed November 2014. 17 National Capital Poison Center. Mechanism of Injury. Available at: http://www.poison.org/battery/mechanism.asp. Accessed November 5, 2014. 18 Sharpe SJ, Rochette LM, Smith GA. Pediatric battery-related emergency department visits in the United States, 1990-2009. Pediatrics. 2012. 129(6): 1111-7. 19 CDC MMWR. Injuries from batteries among children aged <13 years—United States, 1995-2010. MMWR. 2012. 61(34):661-666.
Last updated February 2015. If you have a question about this factsheet, please call 202-662-0600.
