These 3 popular items are landing children in the ER, experts warn

Experts have revealed the items that regularly land kids in the emergency room — and they’re more common than you’d think.

Research that will be unveiled this weekend at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference detailed how scalding curling irons, tiny desk magnets and speedy electric scooters pose a risk to children, according to NBC News.

They are just a handful of objects in a long list of items that are a safety hazard, which includes but is not limited to small toys, coins or batteries that could be accidentally swallowed or unsecured furniture that could tip over.

“Unfortunately, there are a few products that unto themselves pose a danger to a child,” pediatrics emergency medicine physician Dr. Leah Middelberg told NBC News.

Middelberg, who practices at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, specifically focuses on the dangers of desk magnets — stress-relieving tiny spheres that serve as a fidget toy — in her research, which kids could stick in their nose, ears or mouths.

“They come in tens to hundreds in these little sets, where easily a couple can come free and be trapped in the carpet and a kiddo can pick them up,” said Middelberg, whose research drew on data from 2017 to 2019 collected by 25 hospitals across the nation.

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Middelberg, who found almost 600 cases of magnet-related accidents, noted a “huge increase” in similar incidents and calls to poison control centers in the last six years.

Swallowing more than one could result in the magnets attracting and pinching tissue internally, causing bleeding or blockages that pose health risks.

Magnets are a known risk for small children, who accidentally swallow the small items when playing or, in some cases, faking tongue piercings for an internet challenge.

Middelberg hopes new rulings for magnet safety will reduce the number of accidents in children.

Last September, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted to approve a new standard for magnets that “requires loose or separable magnets in certain magnet products to be either too large to swallow, or weak enough to reduce the risk of internal injuries when swallowed.”

Curling irons, a common household tool, pose a burn hazard to youngsters because they can reach temperatures as high as 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

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“Developmentally, kids under 10, they’re going to be curious, they’re going to be reaching things. They don’t necessarily have the learned skill of, ‘Hey, that might be dangerous. That’s hot,’” researcher Dr. Brandon Rozanki, a pediatric resident at Honolulu’s Tripler Army Medical Center, told NBC News.

Using data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, Rozanki discovered 31,000 hair tool-related burn injuries in people under the age of 24 from the years 2013 to 2022, with many occurring in groups aged 10 or younger.

While a majority did not require medical attention, he advised parents to keep the hot styling tools away from children until they are teens.

Then there are electric scooters, which pose a greater risk to teenage boys aged 16 to 18.

Research conducted by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia that used data from U.S. emergency departments showed 13,500 injuries related to electric scooters from 2020 to 2021 — a 71% surge.

The most common injuries were to the head, with 67% of those patients not wearing helmets at the time of the accident.

Electric scooters are rampant in metropolitan geographies like New York City, which saw a rise in scooter and moped injuries in the city’s emergency rooms in 2020.

Pediatric orthopedic surgeon Dr. J. Todd Lawrence, who practices at the children’s hospital, said it’s common to see children in the ER for similar accidents, although he mostly sees “little bumps and bruises.”

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The Philly researchers encouraged more bicycle and scooter lanes to prevent accidents, as well as educating riders about road safety.

But parents should not be buying high-speed scooters for their young ones, Lawrence cautioned.

“If you’re going to have your 15-year-old teenage boy riding it, they don’t need one that goes 55 miles per hour,” he advised.