More than 43,000 children are injured in slips and falls in bathtubs each year in the United States, researchers report.

Earlier studies of bathtub injuries concentrated on burns from hot water and drowning and near-drowning. This is the first study that looked at injuries caused by slips and falls, according to the report published in the July 13 online edition of Pediatrics.

“What caught our attention was the frequency of the slips and falls,” said lead researcher Dr. Gary A. Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

There are about 120 kids a day injured by slips and falls in bathtubs and showers, and that number is constant over the 18 years the researchers looked at, Smith said. “That is really telling me that we have a problem that needs to be addressed,” he noted. (more…)