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Inflatable bouncer-related injuries to children: increasing phenomenon in pediatric emergency department, 2002–2013

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Abstract

A sharp uptrend in emergency department (ED) visits for injuries associated with inflatable bouncers (IBs) has been observed recently. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiology and features of injuries resulting from the use of IBs at an Italian pediatric ED. We collected data of 521 children from GIPSE (regional software for management of admission at ED) in the period of 2002–2013. The injuries were slightly more frequent in males than females (52.4 vs 47.6 %). Preschooler children were the most commonly injured (45.7 %). The occurrence of injuries increased by year (eight cases in 2002 and 90 cases in 2013), and a seasonal variability was reported (207 cases in the period of April–June). The most common body region injured was the upper extremity (52.4 %). Children with fractures were 126 times more likely to have injured the upper extremity rather than other body regions compared with patients with no fracture (p < 0.05). Humerus and radius/ulna fractures occurred most commonly in preschooler children (p < 0.05). Fractures were 43 times more likely to be hospitalized than children with no fracture (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Injuries associated with IBs increased over time. Preschooler children were most injured, and this means there is insufficient adherence to existing recommendations concerning an age limit.

What is Known:

• Along with the skyrocketing popularity of IBs among children, the number of children presenting to ED with injuries from these plays has also been increasing at an alarming rate;

• The European literature about this phenomenon is scarce and no specific legislations exist for safety of these devises in European Union (EU).

What is New:

• This is the first study in EU that examines trends for pediatric inflatable bouncer-related injuries at ED over an 11-year period.

• Although American Academy of Pediatrics recommends restrictions of attendance to IBs under 6 years old, injuries and fractures continue to occur more frequently under this age.

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Abbreviations

CI:

Confidential interval

ED:

Emergency department

EU:

European Union

IBD:

Injury data base

IBs:

Inflatable bouncers

GIPSE:

Gestione informazione pronto soccorso emergenza (Informational Management for First Aid and Emergency)

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Authors’ contributions

VF and UR: They conceived the idea and the design of the study and gathered the approval of institutional ethics committee; they supported study implementation and supervised acquisition and interpretation of data; they also drafted the initial version of the manuscript and critically revised its intellectual contents. They approved and submitted the final version of the manuscript.

NV: He participated in the conception of the study and in the statistical analysis and interpretation of data; he critically revised the intellectual content of the final manuscript.

YD, RR, and AD: They collected and participated to conceptual elaboration of the data; they were involved in revision of final manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

EG and AR: They coordinated the study, critically revised and approved the final version of the article, and critically revised its intellectual contents.

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Pediatrics, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy

      Valentina Ferro & Ylenia D’Alfonso

    2. National Centre for Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Health Promotion, National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy

      Nicola Vanacore

    3. Emergency Pediatric Department, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy

      Rossella Rossi, Andrea Deidda, Emanuele Giglioni, Antonino Reale & Umberto Raucci

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    1. Valentina Ferro
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    Correspondence to Umberto Raucci.

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    The authors declare that the manuscript does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors

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    All Authors have no conflict of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in the manuscript.

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    No funding was secured for this study.

    Additional information

    Communicated by Peter de Winter

    Valentina Ferro and Umberto Raucci contributed equally to this work.

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    Cite this article

    Ferro, V., D’Alfonso, Y., Vanacore, N. et al. Inflatable bouncer-related injuries to children: increasing phenomenon in pediatric emergency department, 2002–2013. Eur J Pediatr 175, 499–507 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-015-2659-5

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-015-2659-5

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