Common Childhood Injuries and Poisonings

Facts About Burn Injury

According to the latest data available from the National SAFE KIDS Campaign, consider the following statistics:

  • Accidental, or unintentional, injury is the leading cause of death among children, teens, and young adults.
  • The five leading causes of accidental injury are burns, motor vehicle accidents, falls, poisonings, and drowning.
  • Burns and fires are the fourth most common causes of accidental death in children.
  • Nearly 75 percent of all burns in children are preventable.
  • More than 600 children die every year in fires, or from other burn injuries.
  • Toddlers and children are more often burned by a scalding or flames.
  • The majority of children ages 4 and under, who are hospitalized for burn-related injuries, suffer from scalds burns (65 percent) or contact burns (20 percent).
  • Hot tap water burns cause more deaths and hospitalizations than burns from any other hot liquids.
Age Most Common Injury Type Risk Factors
< 5 Years Flame Playing with matches, cigarette lighters, fires in fireplaces, barbecue pits, and trash fires.
. Scald Kitchen injury from tipping scalding liquids.
Bathtub scalds often associated with lack of supervision or child abuse. Greatest number of pediatric burn patients are infants and toddlers younger than 3 years of age burned by scalding liquids.
5 to 10 Years Flame Male children are at an increased risk often due to fire play and risk-taking behaviors.
. Scald Female children are at increased risk, with most burns occurring in the kitchen or bathroom.
Adolescent Flame Injury associated with male peer-group activities involving gasoline, or other flammable products.
. Electrical Occurs most often in male adolescents involved in dare-type behaviors, such as climbing utility poles or antennas. In rural areas, burns may be caused by moving irrigation pipes that touch an electrical source.
  • During the last 30 years, burn injuries have decreased by 50 percent in the US for the following reasons:
    • Increased use of smoke detectors.
    • The flammability of consumer products, such as toys and pajamas, is federally regulated.
    • The US government monitors safety in the workplace.
    • A greater national emphasis is placed on burn injury prevention and fire safety.
    • A decrease in smoking helps prevent burn injuries.
    • New water heaters in homes and in public areas are now preset at lower temperatures to reduce scald injuries.
    • There are fewer open fires.

Heat and cold injuries:

Children are much more vulnerable to changes in the temperature of the environment because they produce and lose heat faster than adults. Because they are so often busy playing and having fun, children tend to pay less attention to when they are becoming too hot or too cold until problems occur. It is important for you to protect your child from the sun and from heat and cold exposures that may cause them illness or injury.

Knowing what to do in case a burn or thermal injury occurs can help prevent a medical emergency.

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