According to a new study more than 43,000 children or 120 daily are injured in slips and falls in bathtubs each year in the United States, with a majority of the injuries occurring in children under the age of 4.

The research, published in the July 13 online edition of the journal Pediatrics, said this was the first study that looked at injuries caused by slips and falls. Previous studies of bathtub injuries had focused on burns from hot water and incidents of drowning and near-drowning.

Lead researcher Dr. Gary A. Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio said, "What caught our attention was the frequency of the slips and falls."

The researchers said over the 18 years they looked at the number has been constant at about 120 kids daily who are injured by slips and falls in bathtubs and showers. "That is really telling me that we have a problem that needs to be addressed," said Smith.

For the new study the researchers used data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System of the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission from 1990 to 2007. They looked at 791,200 bathtub and shower related injuries in children aged 18 and younger treated in emergency departments.

They found the maximum injuries were in children aged 2 years and children aged 4 and younger accounted for 54.3 % of the injuries. Most injuries (71.3%) happened in the bathtub, and 97.1 % happened at home.

Cuts were the most common injuries which accounted for 59.5 % of the injuries, and falls, slips and trips were the most common reason for injuries, accounting for 81 % of all injuries. More than 20 % were sprains and other soft-tissue injuries.

"That is because young children, the ones typically injured in bathtubs and showers, they tend to topple forward," said Smith. "They have a high center of gravity, and they tend to strike their head and their face, and that ends up with injures such as lacerations."

According to the report a majority of the injuries were to the face (48%), followed by the head and neck (15%). About 2.8 % of the children were admitted to the hospital, transferred to another hospital, or held for observation.

The researchers said in most cases, parents were watching their kids. "Unfortunately, adult supervision isn't enough to prevent these injuries," Smith said. "They happen so quickly that a parent simply can't react quickly enough to prevent them."

Smith added that "it is important to prevent them from happening by using a slip-resistant mat inside and outside the bath and shower. Manufacturers need to go back and look at the current standard for slip resistance and strengthen that criteria," he said.

Other preventive measures he recommends include support bars for kids to hold onto when getting into and out of the tub and shower.