Today's Child Injury Panic: Shopping Carts

Study finds 66 kids treated every day due to cart-related injuries

Although a voluntary shopping cart safety standard was implemented in the United States in 2004, the overall number and rate of injuries to children associated with shopping carts have not decreased. In fact, the number and rate of concussions/closed head injuries have continued to climb, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by researchers in the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, examined data relating to children younger than 15 years of age who were treated in U.S. emergency departments (EDs) from 1990 through 2011 for an injury associated with a shopping cart. An estimated 530,494 injured children were documented during the study period, averaging more than 24,000 children annually – which equals 66 children per day or one child every 22 minutes treated in an ED.