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Research indicates thousands of children, young adults suffer bunk bed-related injuries each year.NBC Nightly News (6/2, story 9, 0:30, Williams) reported on a study of bunk bed-related injuries published in the June issue of Pediatrics. In the New York Times's (6/3, F8) Vital Signs column, Eric Nagourney writes that, "[a]fter studying emergency admissions over a [16]-year period,...researchers reported that on average, more than 35,000 children and young adults a year were hurt on bunk beds." The majority of "injuries involved falls and occurred to children under age six." However, "from ages 18 to 21, the researchers found, when many bunk bed users are living at schools, the injury rates were also high." In fact, "18- to 21-year-olds experienced bunk-bed injuries at nearly double the rate of children in the 14- to 17-year-old age group," according to HealthDay (6/2, McKeever). Among "all ages, falls were the most common injury related to bunk beds along with cuts, bruises, scrapes, and bone fractures." Furthermore, "[f]ractures, while the third most common injury, were nearly six times more likely to require hospital admission, transfer to another hospital, or overnight observation than all other injuries." The researchers also found that "[c]hildren less than age three were 40 percent more likely to suffer head injuries than older children, probably because their higher center of gravity tends to cause them to fall head first." hahahaha |
