An analysis of children's clothing-related injuries cases reported by the media in mainland of China from 2003 to 2017

BACKGROUND: Numerous reports in the media have suggested that children could be hurt due to their clothing, yet there are few medical reports that discussed children's clothing-related injuries. This study therefore, aimed to describe the epidemiological characteristics of media-reported injury cases related to children's clothing in Mainland of China. METHODS: This study systematically collected a total of 192 cases of children's clothing-related injuries reported in the news reports and medical literatures published by the Chinese media before December 2017. A content analysis of these cases was conducted to obtain information on the characteristics of these injuries. RESULTS: Cases of clothing-related injuries were most common in children aged 3 to 6 years (54.7%); the ratio of the number of boys to the number of girls in the 192 cases was 1.5: 1. In addition, approximately 51% of the cases occurred in the region of East China. The most common location of the incidents was in the home (35%). Furthermore, the zippers are the most common cause of injuries (15.1%), and the most common injured body part was the genital organs (29.2%). Besides, there were 24 cases reported death related to clothing injuries (13%). Moreover, the locations where the injuries occurred, the reasons for the occurrence of the injuries and the injured body parts differed significantly by gender and age (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that future unintentional injuries could be prevented by implementing 2 major initiatives: improving the promotion of the safety of children clothing design in China and educating consumers on the potential risk associated with children's clothing.