Bathtub Accidents Injure 43,000 U.S. Kids...(at home the researchers noted. The mo...),Health

The most common injuries were cuts, which accounted for 59.5 percent of the injuries. Fall, slips and trips were the most common reason for injuries, accounting for 81 percent of all injuries, according to the report.

Most injuries were to the face (48 percent), followed by the head and neck (15 percent). Some 2.8 percent of the children were admitted to the hospital, transferred to another hospital, or held for observation, Smith's team noted.

Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, said it's "alarming that more than 40,000 children are injured badly enough each year in bath and shower tumbles to warrant a trip to the emergency room."

If these injuries were unavoidable, that would be one thing, Katz said. "But they are extremely, if not completely, preventable, and by simple means," Katz noted.

"Bath and shower surfaces can be engineered to provide more friction, and surfaces in tubs and showers can be designed to pose less menace should a fall occur," he said.

For now, parents are forewarned that tub and shower tumbles in young children are a common cause of injury, Katz said. "So the first line of defense is parental vigilance. But the more definitive response is to re-engineer tubs and showers," he said.

More information

For more information on children's safety, visit Safe Kids USA.

SOURCES: Gary A. Smith, M.D., Dr.PH., director, Center for Injury Research and Policy, Research Institute, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio; David L. Katz, M.D., M.P.H., director, Prevention Research Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; July 13, 2009, Pediatrics, online