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. 2022 Jan;58(1):69-76.
doi: 10.1111/jpc.15644. Epub 2021 Jul 10.

Epidemiology of child playground equipment-related injuries in the USA: Emergency department visits, 1995-2019

Behnam Nabavizadeh  1 , Nizar Hakam  1 , Jordan T Holler  1 , Nikan K Namiri  1 , Michael J Sadighian  1 , Natalie Rios  1 , Anthony Enriquez  1 , Gregory M Amend  1 , Benjamin N Breyer  1   2
Affiliations

Epidemiology of child playground equipment-related injuries in the USA: Emergency department visits, 1995-2019

Behnam Nabavizadeh et al. J Paediatr Child Health. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Aim: To analyse the most recent trends and characteristics of playground equipment-related injuries in children.

Methods: We used the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database to acquire cases of playground equipment-related injuries in children ≤17 years old between 1995 and 2019. A total of 184 580 unweighted cases met our study inclusion criteria.

Results: A total of 5 356 703 (95% confidence interval 4 235 530-6 477 876) emergency department visits for playground-related injuries in the USA were estimated during the study period which was equal to an average of 29.4 annual injuries per 10 000 US population ≤17 years. The mean age was 6.5 (standard error 0.049) years. School-aged (42.7%) and pre-school children (35.3%) accounted for most playground injuries. More than half of the injuries were reported in males (53.6%). Most injuries occurred with climbing apparatuses (36%), followed by swings (25.9%) and slides (20.9%). Overall number of injuries (∆ - 22.3%, P = 0.01) and incidence (∆ - 21.6%, P = 0.01) had a declining trend after 2012. However, reported concussion injuries showed an increasing trend during the study (∆ + 28.3%, P < 0.001). A marked seasonal variation in number of injuries existed with most injuries in May and September.

Conclusions: Although injuries arising from playground equipment have decreased during the past 8 years, there was an increase in number of reported concussions. The outcomes of this study suggested that further efforts should be directed towards such serious injuries.

Keywords: children; fracture; injuries; play; plaything.

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