Head Injuries Among Children

A new study in the US on more than 43,000 children finds that falls are the most common cause of head injuries among young kids. For children under the age of 2, falls accounted for 77 percent of head injuries. For these aged 2 to 12, falls caused 38 percent of head injuries. Many of these serious brain injuries result from car and bicycle accidents and “bike helmets and seatbelts could have saved these kids. Among kids who suffered a head injury in a car accident, fewer than half were wearing a seatbelt and children injured in bicycle accidents were wearing helmets less than 20 percent of the time. Among teens aged 13 to 17, head injuries were most often caused by assaults, sports and car crashes.