For Release: August 4, 1997, 5 PM (ET)
Below is a highlight of a study appearing on the August PEDIATRICS electronic pages, the Internet extension of Pediatrics, the peer-reviewed, scientific journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). To receive the full text of this study, please contact the AAP Division of Public Relations is 847-981-7877 and ask for CE2-97. The complete study also is available on PEDIATRICS electronic pages at http://www.pediatrics.org.
ESCALATORS POSE SERIOUS INJURY THREAT TO CHILDREN
CHICAGO--Children are at risk for sustaining severe injuries while riding on escalators, according to a study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics on this months PEDIATRICS electronic pages. The studys authors, from New York University School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital Center in New York, report that escalator-related trauma is uncommon, but when such trauma happens significant injury can result. The authors reviewed 26 cases of children under age 18 who went to the emergency room with escalator- related injuries from August 1990 through February 1995. Of those 26, half were between 2 and 4 years of age. Twelve children underwent surgery for treatment of severe lacerations, avulsions (separation of a limb or digit) or degloving (tearing off of skin and tissue) injuries. Thirty-one percent of the injured children were walking, running, playing or sitting on the escalator instead of riding properly. Twenty-three percent were injured while stepping off. All injuries resulted from one of three events: falling down with subsequent blunt trauma, falling down with subsequent entrapment of an extremity or, most often, entrapment of an extremity not related to falling down. Entrapment happened when a child became caught between two steps or between a step and the side-rail. In most entrapment cases, the child got caught between the last step and the comb plate at the end of the escalator. According to the authors, those injuries happened because young children remained standing on the escalator and allowed their feet to slide off at the end, instead of actually stepping off. The authors advise that parents and care providers always supervise children on escalators. They recommend hand-holding or even carrying young children while riding on, and especially while stepping off, escalators.
[For an interview on this study, contact Shari L. Platt, M.D., at 212/472- 5260.]
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EDITORS NOTE: This study appeared on the peer-reviewed, scientific electronic pages of the American Academy of Pediatrics, but does not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of the Academy. The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 53,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.
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