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Investigators used the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database to characterize cotton-tip applicator (CTA)–related injuries among patients younger than 18 years of age who were treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments between 1990 and 2010.
Results were as follows:
An estimated 263,338 children (mean age, 6 years) were treated for CTA injuries, 99% of which occurred at home.
Of the 31% of CTA injuries with documented mechanism of injury, 73% were associated with cleaning, 10% with playing, and 9% with a slip or fall.
The person handling the CTA was the parent in 79% of children <4 years of age and 10% of children 8 to 17 years of age.
The most common reasons patients with CTA injuries sought care were foreign-body sensation…