Safety Effects of Drawstring Requirements for Children's Upper Outerwear Garments

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of the requirements of the voluntary safety standard for drawstrings on children's upper outerwear garments in preventing child deaths resulting from drawstring entanglement. DESIGN: An interrupted time series design. Annual estimates of drawstring-related child deaths were developed for the study period of January 1985 to December 2009. A Poisson regression model for rate data was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the drawstring requirements during the postintervention period. SETTING: United States. SUBJECTS: Children aged 14 years and younger. INTERVENTION The application of the drawstring requirements of the voluntary standard that were adopted in 1997. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The estimated percentage reduction in the drawstring-related child mortality rate associated with the application of the drawstring requirements. RESULTS: The drawstring requirements of the voluntary standard were associated with a 90.9% (95% CI, 83.8%-96.1%) reduction in the drawstring-related mortality rate. This suggests the prevention of about 50 child deaths from 1997, when the voluntary standard was adopted, through the end of our study period in 2009. CONCLUSIONS: The requirements of the voluntary safety standard for drawstrings have been highly effective in preventing deaths resulting from the entanglement of drawstrings in children's upper outerwear garments.