Injuries associated with... SHOPPING CARTS

CHIRPP database, summary data for 1995 and 1996, children under 5 years of age

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SUMMARY (244 records)

Injuries associated with shopping carts were sustained most frequently by 2 year olds (32.4%). Of all injuries related to shopping carts, 54.5% were to males. Injuries occurred most often during spring and summer, 58.6%, and most frequently between 4 and 8 p.m. (32.8%) and between noon and 4 p.m. (30.3%). All injuries occurred in commercial areas mainly in grocery and department stores (91.0%). Injuries that required advice only or minor treatment accounted for 51.2% of patients, while 38.5% of patients needed medical follow-up after leaving the emergency department and 9.0% were admitted to hospital. Overall, the most frequent types of injury were minor head injuries; approximately thirty times the average for all injuries in CHIRPP among children less than 5 years old. Concussions (7.8%) were twice the CHIRPP average.

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SPECIFICATIONS OF THE SEARCH

In May 1998, a search of the CHIRPP database for the years 1995 and 1996 (242,024 records) was conducted. Age was restricted to children less than five years of age. Records were selected i) if they contained a factor code for shopping carts (code 3002) or ii) if the text fields contained any of the following strings: "BASKET", "PANIER", "CHARIOT", "CART", "TROLLEY" or "CADDIE". Selected records were then scanned and eliminated i) if the child was riding on the outside perimeter of the shopping cart; or ii) if the shopping cart was incidental to the injury, e.g., running into or falling into a shopping cart. Records were only included if the child was in the shopping cart when injured. The total number of records identified was 244.

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OVERALL OCCURRENCE

Among records for children younger than five years of age (66,846), the proportion of records in the CHIRPP database accounted for by falls from shopping carts was 0.4% with no apparent trend from year to year since 1990.

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AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION OF INJURIES

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES	% MALE*	NUMBER/ 100,000 **
< 1 year	26	10.7	61.5	309
1 year	61	25.0	57.4	343
2 years	79	32.4	49.4	476
3 years	46	19.0	58.7	352
4 years	32	13.1	50.0	292
Total	244	100.0	54.5	365

^* Of all injuries to children under five years of age in the CHIRPP database in 1995 and 1996, 57.0% were sustained by males.
^** The number of shopping cart injuries per 100,000 CHIRPP injuries of all types by age indicated. Because CHIRPP collects information from ten children's hospitals and only six of the general hospitals, there is a high number of young children in the database. Using number per 100,000 within an age group (instead of overall percent by age group) adjusts for different age group distributions.

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TIME AT WHICH INJURY OCCURRED

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES
8:00 a.m. to noon	39	16.0
Noon to 4 p.m.	74	30.3
4 p.m. to 8 p.m.	80	32.8
8 p.m. to midnight	18	7.4
Unknown	33	13.5
Total	244	100.0

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DAY DURING WHICH INJURY OCCURRED

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES
Sunday	30	12.3
Monday	27	11.1
Tuesday	28	11.5
Wednesday	39	16.0
Thursday	36	14.8
Friday	42	17.2
Saturday	42	17.2
Total	244	100.0

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SEASON DURING WHICH INJURY OCCURRED

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES
Spring (March - May)	55	22.5
Summer (June - August)	88	36.1
Fall (September - November)	68	27.9
Winter (December - February)	33	13.5
Total	244	100.0

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WHERE THE INJURY OCCURRED

		NUMBER		PERCENT OF INJURIES
Commercial areas			244	100.0
	stores (e.g., grocery, department, pharmacy) sidewalk, road, parking area other	222 10 12
Total			244	100.0

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CIRCUMSTANCES AND FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO INJURY

Note: The following is a list of frequently occurring circumstances and factors in injuries related to shopping carts. Each patient was assigned to a single category and percentages were based on 244 persons injured. Category assignment was based on the level of detail available in the description of the injury.

		NUMBER		PERCENT OF INJURIES
Fell out of shopping cart			195	79.9
	fell, not further specified while standing in cart while sitting in a cart while getting in/out of cart while playing in cart pushed out of cart by other child	66 42 38 36 12 1
Shopping cart tipped over with child inside			32	13.1
Shopping cart with child inside, moved or stopped suddenly			9	3.7
Baby in a car seat fell from cart or fell when a cart tipped over			6	2.5
Other			2	0.9
Total			244	100.0

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NATURE OF INJURY AND BODY PART INJURED

Up to three injuries may be specified for each record. Forty-one patients (16.8%) sustained two injuries and 2 patients (0.8%) sustained three injuries. Only the primary injury is listed below.

		NUMBER		PERCENT OF INJURIES
Minor head injury			100	41.0
Bruise, abrasion, inflammation			59	24.2
	head, neck trunk arm leg	52 3 3 1
Fracture			30	12.3
	arm leg skull face	15 8 6 1
Concussion			19	7.8
Cut, laceration			18	7.4
	head external genitalia	17 1
Sprain, strain			4	1.6
	neck trunk ankle	2 1 1
Dislocation - elbow			2	0.9
Blood vessel - face			1	0.4
Amputation - finger			1	0.4
No injury detected, unknown			10	4.1
Total			244	100.0

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TREATMENT PROVIDED IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES
Left without being seen	3	1.2
Advice only, or treatment with no need for follow-up	125	51.2
Treated, medical follow-up required	94	38.5
Admitted to hospital	22	9.0
Fatal injury	0 **	0.0 *
Total	244	100.0

^* The percentage of all CHIRPP injuries among children less than five years of age in 1995 and 1996 resulting in hospital admission was 5.4%.
^** 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. Only 0.02% of all CHIRPP injuries to children under age five were fatal during 1995 and 1996.

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PROFILE OF PATIENTS ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL

Of the 22 patients admitted to hospital, 12 were males and 10 were females; 20 patients were 2-4 years old and 2 were 1 year of age.

Five patients were injured while trying to climb in or out of the cart. Three patients were injured when the cart was tipped over, 6 patients fell while sitting or standing in the cart, 1 infant fell while in a car seat and 1 child was injured while riding on the bottom of the cart. Six patients fell where the circumstances surrounding the injury were not provided.

Fractures were sustained by 18 patients (6 skull, 2 upper arm, 1 elbow, 3 forearm and 6 thigh). Three patients sustained a concussion and 1 patient suffered an amputated or partially amputated finger.

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SUGGESTED REFERENCE AND REPORTING INFORMATION

This report and data from it may be copied and circulated freely, provided that the source is acknowledged. The following citation is recommended:

Injury data were obtained from the database of the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP), Public Health Agency of Canada.

If data from this report are included in any other document or publication, it should be noted, where appropriate, that the information comes from sixteen hospitals (ten pediatric and six general) across Canada.

For additional information on the CHIRPP program, please contact the Child Injury Section, Public Health Agency of Canada by phone at (613) 941-9918 or by FAX at (613) 941-9927.