Children aged five to nine have most playground injuries
Children aged between five and nine experienced the most injury using Brisbane playground equipment over the past two years, according to a University of Queensland study.
Sixty percent of incidents studied involved children aged between five and nine with girls having a higher rate in this age group.
"This is a surprising statistic as it differs from most other child injury areas such as bike-riding," Dr Nixon said. "It suggests girls in this age group are out playing just as much as the boys but we don't know exactly why they are having more accidents. However, we see a big reduction in both injuries to girls and numbers of girls using play equipment in the next age group, 10-14 years."
For the study, Drs Jim Nixon and Caroline Acton from the Paediatrics and Child Health Department's Injury Prevention Research Team analysed 684 child accident cases recorded by the emergency departments of the Royal Children's Hospital and the Mater Children's Hospital.
Just over 40 percent of the children were admitted to the particular hospital at least overnight.
Sixty-seven percent or 460 cases involved children falling from equipment with 372 cases (or 60 percent of all cases) consisting of fractures, most commonly of the arm or wrist, suggesting children had used these body parts to break their falls.
Of all cases, 198 involved monkey bars with the next highest accident-associated pieces of equipment being other climbing frames (112) and slides (71).
Most occurred at school (210) or in public parks (187) with the least occurring on commercial premises (38) or at child care centres (35).
For each case, the researchers documented the nature of injuries and how they had occurred, also visiting the playground to verify the equipment type, floor surface material and hardness and height fallen.
Dr Nixon said the study revealed Brisbane playgrounds were generally very safe areas with a low injury rate.
The study was recently presented to the 2nd Australian Playground Safety Conference run by non-profit organisation Kidsafe. It provides a guide to playground authorities for designing safer equipment and an educational tool to help children play more safely.
"Play equipment these days is generally very safe," Dr Nixon said.
"Designs are better and materials are lighter and therefore less dangerous. For example, swings are no longer made from one heavy wooden plank but rather a lighter, plastic material which does far less damage if it accidentally hits someone.
"In Brisbane, schools and councils are constantly inspecting and repairing equipment to prevent injury to children from faulty equipment."
Dr Nixon said playground surfaces were also softer, reducing the severity of injury. The study found the most common materials lining playgrounds were bark, mulch, rubber matting and sand.
He said the study pointed to the need for greater supervision of children in the under-four age group.
"We can make playgrounds safer without taking away from the challenge and adventure that children need. Some equipment will always need supervision when dealing with really young children," Dr Nixon said.
The project received $55,000 funding from the Brisbane City Council and $40,000 from the Queensland Education Department. The research team also included Department researcher Belinda Wallis and Queensland University of Technology biostatistician Diana Battistuta.
For more information, contact Dr Nixon (telephone 07 3365 5322).
