Data Blog

While toys provide entertainment and fun, they can also cause or contribute to injuries, some serious, among children and youth.

The Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP) is a sentinel surveillance system that collects injury and poisoning data from the emergency departments of 11 pediatric and 9 general hospitals across Canada.

Toy-related injuries by age and sex

Between April 1, 2011 and November 9, 2022 there were 29,268 cases of toy-related injuries, with 63% occurring in males and 37% in females (n = 18,537 and n = 10,731 respectively).

The number of toy-related injuries by age group are as follows:

• less than 1 year (n = 1,012, 3.5%)
• 1 to 4 years (n = 13,298, 45.4%)
• 5 to 9 years (n = 8,590, 29.3%)
• 10 to 17 years (n = 6,368, 21.8%)

What types of toys caused the most injuries?

Table 1 presents the most common toy categories that were associated with the largest number of injuries by age group where the toy category was known (n = 21,217). Information on the specific toy is not always provided to the emergency department or recorded by them. This occurred in 27.5% (n = 8,051) of the cases.

What were the most common toy-related injuries?

Overall, open wound injuries (23.5%) were the most frequent toy-related injury, followed by fractures (19.0%) and bruises/abrasions or soft tissue injuries (16.2%).

The most frequent types of injuries varied by age group:

• Less than 1 year: Traumatic brain injuries at 29.1%, followed by foreign body injuries^{Footnote ii} at 16.0%.
• 1 to 4 years: Open wounds at 32.3%, followed by foreign body injuries at 17.1%.
• 5 to 17 years: Fractures at 28.7%, followed by bruises/abrasions or soft tissue injuries at 19.8%.

How did the toy-related injuries happen?

The 4 most common mechanisms of toy-related injuries were:

1. Falls, including tripping over toy (n = 17,272, 59.0%)
2. Struck by/against objects (n = 6,249, 21.4%)
3. Foreign body entering into or through a natural orifice, including eye, ear, nose, and genitourinary tract (n = 2,012, 6.9%)
4. Ingestion or inhalation/aspiration of foreign body, except food (n = 1,736, 5.9%)

What percentage of cases were admitted to hospital?

Hospital admission was required for 2.6% of toy-related injury cases (n = 773), of which the majority were hospitalized for fractures (55.0%). Other injuries requiring hospital admission included foreign body in the alimentary tract (11.8%), foreign body in the respiratory tract (6.7%) and traumatic brain injury (5.2%).

What types of injuries occurred from certain toys?

Injuries related to children's wagons (n = 499) most frequently included traumatic brain injury (31.9%) and fracture (21.0%). The majority of the time (82.2%) these injuries were due to falls from the wagon.

Foreign body injuries were the most frequent nature of injury caused by small toys or toy parts including marbles, building sets, modelling compounds, magnetic sets, board games, battery-operated toys and balloons. Examples of foreign body injuries include those of the alimentary tract, respiratory tract, nose, ear canal, external eye or genitourinary tract.

Of the 1,418 riding toy-related injuries, open wound (29.5%) was the most frequent injury, followed by traumatic brain injury (21.4%) and fracture (17.8%). Riding-toy related injuries often occurred due to falling off the riding toy (85.1%).

Fracture (40.0%), bruises/abrasions or soft tissue injury (23.0%) and open wound (14.8%) represented the majority of all scooter-related injuries (n = 7,842). Falling (89.1%) while scootering was the most common mechanism of injury.

The majority of injuries related to toy weapons and projectile toys (n = 591) were eye injuries (36.7%) and open wounds (30.1%), largely from being struck by or against an object (81.9%).

Open wound (32.3%), traumatic brain injury (19.0%), and fracture (16.8%) were the most frequent children's tricycle-related injuries (n = 607). These injuries often occurred from falling off the tricycle (79.7%).

Prevention and safety tips

Below are tips on ways to prevent toy-related injuries from occurring^{reference 1}

• Make sure to choose age-appropriate toys. Toys for older children may contain small parts or present other hazards that make them unsafe for younger children.
• Check that the toy is sturdy, well made and in good condition.
• Make sure to read toy instructions and ensure children are using toys how they were intended to be used.
• Do not give young children toys with small parts/accessories.
• Do not give children novelty magnet sets.
• Make sure that batteries are securely contained in the toy and that they are not accessible to the child.
• Be careful with button batteries, as they can result in significant injury or death if swallowed.
• Make sure any riding toys you buy are appropriate for your child's size, age and abilities.