Bunk bed injuries send 35,790 youngsters to ER each year

An average of 35,790 people younger than 21 are treated for non-fatal injuries related to bunk beds in emergency rooms each year, according to a new study by a trio of Ohio researchers.

The study looked at emergency room records from 1990 to 2005. Among the findings:

• Children younger than six suffered the majority of the bunk bed injuries, although significant injury rates also were seen among college-aged students.
• Roughly 60 percent of the injuries occurred in males.
• Lacerations were the most common type of injury (about 30 percent), followed by contusions and abrasions (24 percent) and fractures (20 percent).
• About three out of four of the bunk bed injuries were caused by falls.
• Children sustain bunk bed–related injuries from falls, jumps, bunk bed ladders, bed malfunctions and striking the bed.
• Injuries associated with bunk beds are typically more severe than those associated with conventional beds.
• More than a quarter of the injuries were to the head and neck.
• Bunk bed injuries remained fairly consistent over the 15 years studied.

More than 93 percent of bunk bed injuries occurred at home, primarily among children and adolescents.

For young adults, schools were a primary location. About half (50.9 percent) of the bunk bed–related injuries that occurred at schools involved young adults aged 18 to 21 years. Alcohol use could be a significant factor in bunk bed injuries among young adults, according to the study, which noted 18 to 21 year-olds experienced twice as many injuries as adolescents in the 14 to 17 year-old range.

The authors of the study—from Ohio State University and Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus—suggest increased efforts are needed to prevent bunk bed injuries among children, adolescents and young adults.

The study was published in the June issue of Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued mandatory standards for bunk beds in 1999, based on a set of voluntary standards issued seven years earlier by the American Society for Testing and Materials. Those standards were targeted primarily at the prevention of entrapment hazards in bunk beds.

Consumer Reports offers safety guidelines on toddler, twin and bunk beds.

The CPSC recommends that children under six years of age never be allowed to sleep in a top bunk. The agency offers other basic safety tips for bunk beds in a fact sheet available online.

The CPSC also recalls bunk beds that are deemed a hazard and include them in a list of recalled children's items. Parents should check the recall list before accepting a used bunk bed. In 2007, the CPSC issued two recalls for bunk beds.

• Hooker Furniture recalls bunk beds due to strangulation hazard (photo, top)
• Bunk beds recalled by d-Scan due to collapse hazard