Report spotlights heavy toll of home computer injuries

Jun 9, 2009, 16:52 GMT

San Francisco - With the huge rise in the number of homes with personal computers over the last decade, it's not surprising that a new US report has found a seven-fold increase in the number of computer-related injuries over the period of 13 years.

But what is surprising is that the largest group of victims are not home office workers suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, avid gamers with sore thumbs, or other power computer users suffering the physical effects of slaving away at computers all day.

Instead the report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that children under five had the highest injury rate - mainly due to falling computer equipment, or tripping over computer cables. The research was conducted by scientists from the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, and from the Ohio State University College of Medicine.

The study found that more than 78,000 patients were treated at US hospitals for home computer-related injuries between 1994 and 2006, with the injury rate increasing by 732 per cent over the period - more than double the 309 per cent rise in household computer ownership.

The study found that the most common injury was tripping or falling. Children under the age of five (43.4 per cent of incidents) and adults of age 60 or older (37.7 per cent of incidents) sustained such injuries more than other age groups. Hitting computer equipment or getting caught on it represented the next most common type of injury (36.9 per cent of incidents).

Lead researcher of the US study, Dr Lara McKenzie of the Nationwide Children's Hospital Center for Injury Research and Policy in Columbus, Ohio, said the study indicated the need for greater efforts to protect people, especially children.

'Future research on acute computer-related injuries is needed as this ubiquitous product becomes more intertwined in our everyday lives,' she said in a statement.