UT Southwestern pediatricians reviewed a year's worth of emergency department cases involving children injured by television sets toppling over, usually because of climbing toddlers or someone accidentally knocking over the TV. Their findings, available online, appear in the June issue of the journal Academic Emergency Medicine.

"Our data indicated a lack of parental awareness and an absence of primary prevention as a root cause for this problem," said Dr. Floyd Ota, assistant professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern and lead author of the study.

More than 98 percent of homes in America have at least one television and one household out of every four purchases a new model each year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. That turnover pattern, the UT Southwestern researchers noted, leads to unfamiliarity with issues like size, required safe clearance and weight distribution.

"The majority of the weight is placed toward the front of the unit," Dr. Ota said. "If the television is not placed on a stable display area, or if the display area is not secured, the imbalanced weight distribution increases the potential for toppling forward."

The researchers found that although injuries usually aren't severe, the potential for tragedy exists, so adults need to be made more aware and take better precautions. Eighty-five percent of parents interviewed for the study said they weren't aware of the potential danger.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that 2,300 children annually visit emergency rooms for injuries due to falling TVs. Previous studies suggest this in-home hazard may be on the rise.

The UT Southwestern study, in which researchers attempted to identify methods for prevention, is be
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Contact: Russell Rian
Russell.Rian@utsouthwestern.edu
214-648-3404
UT Southwestern Medical Center
1-Jun-2006