Ages of young children who fall down stairs.

Different accident patterns were noted for children using walkers and not using walkers at the time of an accident. The children were divided into two locomotion groups, natural locomotion (384 children) and walker-aided locomotion (235 children), depending on the presence or absence of a walker during the fall down the stairs. A review of incidents reported by a sample of emergency rooms identified 619 falls down steps by children between 5 and 18 mo. old during the first 6 months of 1995. The age of the highest risk, as indicated by the frequency of falls down the stairs, for the walker-aided locomotion group was 8 mo. The age of highest risk for the natural locomotion group was 12 mo. Children who fall down the stairs, in or out of a walker, are victims of the same hazard, unprotected stairs. Home safety recommendations to reduce the risk of young children falling down the stairs are provided.