Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused over a million international deaths and overwhelmed healthcare systems internationally: Wuhan, China; Lombardy, Italy; and New York City, New York. This disease has led to overall mortality rates from 1-6%, [1-3] with the subset of patients who require critical care or intubation having mortality as high as 50-80% [4,5].The vast majority of patients will be asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic [6] and can be treated at home. However, a small percentage of patients will require hospitalization for aggressive supportive care -supplemental oxygen, intubation, and sometimes cardiac support [7]. Those at most risk for severe outcomes appear to be the obese, [8] the elderly, [3] and those with prior heart or lung disease [9]. Given the stretch on limited resources, predicting those at risk of de-
Introduction: Children unbuckling from their own carseats or restraints is a yet unexplored phenomenon that could pose a substantial safety risk. Therefore, we sought to better understand this phenomenon by surveying parents of young children.
Methods:This was a prospective cohort study completed at a single academic institution in 2019. A self-administered survey was given to parents of children up to 6 years old who presented to the emergency department or primary care regarding their experience with their children unbuckling from their carseat.
Results:We surveyed 211 parents of 355 children under 6 years old. Among our sample of children less than 6 years of age, 18% could unbuckle themselves from their child restraint and one in five of those (19%) while the vehicle is moving.
Conclusion:Over half of children were reported to be under the age of 4 years at the time of first self-unbuckling. This information measures a potential child restraint safety issue that is a public health topic that needs to be addressed.
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