BEWARE those swings and roundabouts. Children are more likely to injure
themselves seriously in the playground than in car or bicycle crashes, say
researchers at the Children鈥檚 Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati, Ohio.
They analysed 920,551 cases between 1992 and 1997 where children were brought
to casualty departments. 鈥淭he severity of playground injuries is
under-appreciated,鈥� says team leader Kieran Phelan.
More children are severely hurt on the roads than in playground falls. But
when a playground casualty went to hospital, the child was twice as likely to be
severely hurt. Children aged five to nine are most at risk, says Phelan. The
results appear in Ambulatory Pediatrics (vol 1, p 227).
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