Toppled TVs causing serious injuries in kids: study

Parents, take note! TV sets falling onto children are causing an increasing number of severe neck and head injuries, a new research across seven countries has claimed.
The rate of these injuries has increased in the last decade and is expected to continue rising as TVs are becoming increasingly large and affordable, researchers said.
In many households, TVs aren't properly fixed to walls or stable bases. As TVs become heavier, they are more likely to cause fractures or fatal intracranial hemorrhages, they said.
"Parents have to be aware that TVs can seriously harm children," said lead author Michael Cusimano, a neurosurgeon at St Michael's Hospital in Canada.

"But these injuries are highly predictable and preventable," Cusimano said.
Cusimano said children between one and three years old are most susceptible to these injuries and more likely to suffer severe injuries than older children.

Many of these injuries occur when toddlers climb onto furniture to retrieve toys or bump into unstable TV bases, causing TVs to topple onto their heads.
Because toddlers are usually shorter than most TV stands, their head is most often the first point of contact when a TV falls.
Researchers looked at 29 studies from seven countries analysing TV-related head and neck injuries.
They found that 84 per cent of reported injuries occurred at home, with three-fourths of these injuries not witnessed by adult caregivers.

"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," said Cusimano.
"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," said Cusimano.
The research also found that children between two and five years old have significant exposure to TVs - spending more than 32 hours per week in front of TVs - making them susceptible to these sorts of injuries.
"Too many children are sustaining head trauma from an easily preventable TV toppling event," said Cusimano.

"We hope 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," he said.
The study was published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.