December 12, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Car crashes are dangerous for everyone involved, but new research shows they may be even more dangerous for obese children than children who are normal weight.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Injury Research and Policy found overweight and obese children are more than two and a half times more likely to suffer injuries to their upper and lower extremities following a motor vehicle crash, compared with normal weight children.

“Previous research has shown that poor-fitting car safety seats can put overweight children at greater risk of injury. We found that being overweight negatively impacts older kids involved in motor vehicle crashes as well,” lead study author Keshia M. Pollack, MPH, Ph.D., was quoted as saying.

While the causes behind the increased injury risk aren’t specifically known, study authors hypothesized that it may be due to a combination of physiology and biomechanical factors.

SOURCE: Injury Prevention, published online Dec. 10, 2008