New research suggests toddlers sustain about 10 times as many burns and scalds as older children.
The main culprits are "hot drinks, irons, hair straighteners and oven hobs," a Cardiff University news release reported.
The researchers looked at 1,215 children under the age of 16 who had been treated for scalds and burns to make their findings. Fifty-eight percent of the children had been scalded while 32 percent sustained contact burns; 116 children suffered burns from other causes. One in five of the children were referred to a specialist burns unit.
A whopping three quarters of the subjects were under the age of five; most of the injuries occurred in one-year-olds. Seventy-eight percent of scalding cases occurred in children under five.
Hot drinks were responsible for 55 percent of the scald injuries and usually occurred when the child pulled the drink down from a surface. In the five to 16-year-old crowd hot water was responsible for half of the scalding injuries.
The under-fives sustained burns most often from touching hot items such as hair irons, older children usually got them outdoors. Burns were usually sustained on the face, arms, and upper trunk.
"Children make up half of all burns and scald cases seen in hospitals, with the potential for lifelong scarring/deformity and even death," Professor Alison Mary Kemp from the School of Medicine's Institute of Primary Care and Public Health, said in the news release.
"Successful prevention is most likely to involve product design or environmental modification, and should be considered for hair straightener, iron, and oven related burns," she said.
Kemp acknowledged modifying mugs for safety would be difficult, but suggested those around young children should employ a heightened awareness of the possible dangers.
"Public information messages, children's [centers], health visitor or family nurse practitioners should address safety education as a matter of routine,"
