Huh

March 27, 2009

From the Wall Street Journal Health Blog today:

We found an item in this week’s CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report inexplicably fascinating: A detailed accounting of the ways Americans trip over their pets.

This is not, as it turns out, a trivial issue: More than 86,000 Americans wind up in the emergency room every year because of falls related to cats or dogs. That’s about 1% of all fall-related ER visits. Nearly 90% of the injuries were dog-related, and females were twice as likely as males to be injured. Here’s more:

Twenty-six percent of falls involving dogs occurred while persons were walking them, and the most frequent circumstances were falling or tripping over a dog (31.3%) and being pushed or pulled by a dog (21.2%). Falling over a pet item (e.g., a toy or food bowl) accounted for 8.8% of fall injuries. Approximately 38.7% involved other or unknown circumstances.

“We know that pets have many benefits,” a CDC epidemiologist told the Washington Post. “We just want people to be aware that pets and pet items can be a fall hazard and can lead to injuries.”

Photo: Health Blog