Injuries and poisonings in out-of-home child care and home care.

Abstract

As part of a national telephone survey regarding health events associated with out-of-home child care, data regarding poisonings and injuries were collected. Of 171 reported poisonings, none occurred during out-of-home child care. The rate of injury during out-of-home child care was 1.69 per 100,000 child-hours compared with 2.66 for home care. Overall injury rates were slightly higher for children who attended out-of-home child care than for those who do not. This occurred because children who attended out-of-home child care had a higher injury rate during home care than did the children who did not attend out-of-home child care at all. Although out-of-home child care may carry an increased risk of infectious disease relative to home care, it does not appear to carry an increased risk of injury and, in fact, may confer a lower risk.