Physical Wellness

Scooters is the Number One Leading Cause of Toy-Related Injuries in Children

By Cheri Cheng | Update Date: Dec 01, 2014 09:32 AM EST

As much as children love to play with toys, there are some kinds of toys that children might be better off without. In a new study, researchers examined children's toys to see which ones have led to injuries over the past few decades and discovered that scooters were the number one leading cause of toy-related injuries.

A scooter is a collapsible, lightweight form of transportation. To use it, all you have to do is push off and create momentum with your feet. Even though scooters are quite easy to use, they might not be the safest. According to the researchers, who examined toy-related injuries from 1990 to 2011, scooters could be tied to increasing the injury rates by 40 percent, with falls being the most common type of injury followed by collisions. Other ride-on-toys, such as wagons and tricycles, also contributed to the increase in injury rate.

"The type of toy that seemed to be driving the increase were foot-powered scooters," Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and coauthor of the study, told CBS News. "Starting in 1999, when the new style of scooter was introduced, they became more popular and injuries became more common."

Overall, the researchers found that from 1990 to 2011, the number of hospital emergency room cases related to toys increased from 121,249 to 195,363. In terms of rate, the number of children injured by toys rose from 18.9 per 10,000 children in 1990 to 26.9 per 10,000 children in 2011. The researchers also calculated that about 18 kids are brought into the emergency rooms for toy-related injuries every hour.

Other toys that were common culprits included toy food and toy guns. The groups that had the highest risk were young children and boys.

"This isn't about guilt, blame and fault. We're not pointing fingers," said Smith. "A child's occupation is play and toys are their tools. These toys can be used safely but parents need to be aware of the precautions that should be taken for certain toys to help prevent an injury."

"We want to see kids be adventuresome. We want to see kids play. But you need to think about the consequences if a toy is not appropriate for them," added Kate Carr, president of Safe Kids Worldwide, an advocacy group, reported by USA Today.

The study was published in the journal, Clinical Pediatrics.

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