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Injuries associated with... INFANT SWINGS
Entire CHIRPP database, as of September 1995, aged under 18 months
SUMMARY (50 records)
Injuries related to infant swings were most common (38.0%) among children three to five months of age and had the highest rate of injuries per 100,000 injuries of all types for age 0 to 2 months. Of all injuries associated with infant swings 54.0% were sustained by males. These injuries occurred most often (32.0%) between the hours of 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the infant's own home (96.0%). Injuries occurred most often when infant fell or slipped out of the swing (38.0%), when the infant was being placed in or taken out of the swing (26.0%), and when another child or adult interfered with the swing (20.0%). Injuries requiring advice only or minor treatment accounted for 86.0% of patients, 8.0% of patients needed medical follow-up after leaving the emergency department and 6.0% were admitted to hospital. The most common type of injury was abrasion, bruising or inflammation (37.8%) and 86.7% of infant swing injuries were to the head.
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE SEARCH
A September 1995 search of the entire CHIRPP database (442,478 records) was conducted. The age was restricted to children under 18 months of age. Records were selected if i) they contained a factor code for infant swings (code 1553) or ii) if the text fields contained the strings "SWING" or "BALANCER." Injuries in outdoor locations were included only if the swing was fully identified as an infant swing. Selected records were scanned and eliminated if i) the baby was actually in a jolly jumper, chair swing, bed swing or home-made swing; or ii) if the swing was incidental to the injury. The total number of records identified was 50.
AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION OF INJURED PERSONS
NUMBER PERCENT OF %MALE* NUMBER/
INJURIES 100,000**
0-2 months 15 30.0 40.0 765.3
3-5 months 19 38.0 57.9 568.2
6-8 months 6 12.0 66.7 112.7
9-11 months 8 16.0 50.0 115.6
12-14 months 0
15-17 months 2 4.0 100.0 21.3
Total 50 100.0 54.0 141.6
* Of all injuries to children less than 18 months of age in the
CHIRPP database, 55.4% are to males.
** Number of injuries of this specific type per 100,000 CHIRPP
injuries of all types within the age group indicated.
TIME AT WHICH INJURY OCCURRED
NUMBER PERCENT OF
INJURIES
8 a.m. to Noon 8 16.0
Noon to 4 p.m. 14 28.0
4 p.m. to 8 p.m. 16 32.0
8 p.m. to 8 a.m. 8 31.8
Unknown 4 8.5
Total 50 100.0
WHERE THE INJURY OCCURRED
NUMBER PERCENT OF
INJURIES
Own home bedroom/living room 38 76.0
Own home kitchen 8 16.0
Own home unspecified 2 4.0
Other home 2 4.0
Total 50 100.0
HOW THE INJURY OCCURRED
NUMBER PERCENT OF
INJURIES
Infant fell/slid out of swing by himself/herself 19 38.0
Infant injured during placement in or out of 13 26.0
swing
Other child/adult interfered with swing while
infant in it 10 20.0
Swing broke, collapsed or malfunctioned 6 12.0
Infant (not in swing) hit against swing or hit
by swing 2 4.0
Total 50 100.0
NATURE OF INJURY AND BODY PART INJURED
NUMBER PERCENT OF
INJURIES
Abrasion/bruising/inflammation 17 37.8
-head or neck 17
Minor head injury 10 22.2
Fracture 5 11.1
-skull 3
-nose 1
-radius/ulna 1
Cut/laceration/puncture 5 11.1
-head or neck 5
Dislocation/subluxation 4 8.9
-elbow 4
Concussion 2 4.4
Sprain 1 2.2
-elbow 1
Dental injury 1 2.2
No injury detected (7)
Total 45 100.0
* Up to three injuries may be specified for each record.
Two patients (4.4%) sustained more than one injury.
TREATMENT PROVIDED
NUMBER PERCENT OF
INJURIES
Advice only, or treatment with
no need for follow-up 43 86.0
Treated, follow-up required 4 8.0
Admitted to hospital 3 *6.0
Fatal injury **0 0.0
Total 50 100.0
* The percentage of all CHIRPP injuries to children less than 18
months of age that resulted in hospital admission was 6.2%.
** Fatalities counted by CHIRPP include only those patients who
were dead on arrival at the emergency department or who died in
the emergency department. They do not include people who died
before they could be taken to hospital or those who died after
hospital admission.
PROFILE OF PATIENTS ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL
Three infants were admitted to hospital after injuries associated with infant swings. The first was a baby boy less than one month of age. Another child tried to remove him from the swing. He hit a table and the floor and sustained a skull fracture.
The second infant was a three month old boy. He suffered a skull fracture and was admitted to hospital when the infant swing he was in had a screw come loose and the swing collapsed on top of him.
The third hospital admission was a nine month old boy who fell out of an infant swing and landed on the floor. He also suffered a skull fracture.
SPECIAL NOTE
The initial search on infant swings also identified a series of six injuries to infants in "swing chairs" which were not included in this report. The six infants ranged in age from less than one month to ten months of age and three were female. Five out of six injuries occurred when swing chairs fell or were knocked off counters or table tops and the in the sixth an infant was dropped while being carried in a swing seat. Four of the six infants received minor injuries only, one had significant cuts or lacerations of the head and one was admitted to hospital with a skull fracture.
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