Curtain cords and accidental childhood hanging

To the Editor: Accidental asphyxia in very young children is an ongoing problem caused by hazardous sleeping environments and toddlers’ inability to understand dangers or to physically extricate themselves once entrapped. Two common problems involve children becoming wedged between mattresses and cot sides or walls, and hanging from clothing caught on projections inside cots.1 Autopsy in such cases requires careful death scene evaluation to prevent confusion with sudden infant death syndrome and to identify any evidence of inflicted injury, if present. National legislation requiring both new and second-hand cots to meet Australian safety standards has reduced the numbers of unsafe cots on the market.

I report a case of another continuing, albeit less common, circumstance that is also resulting in lethal outcomes for toddlers — about one child dies every 1–2 years in Australia in this manner.2 A healthy 13-month-old boy was placed in his cot next to a window with blinds from which a cord was hanging. A loop of the cord measuring about 10 cm was hanging inside the cot. When checked later, the boy was found unresponsive, hanging from the cord. Resuscitation attempts were to no avail. At autopsy, a parchmented ligature mark was present around the neck, with facial and conjunctival petechiae. There were no other injuries or significant illnesses present. Death was therefore attributed to accidental hanging. (Further information on this case is available in the Finding of Inquest.3)

Prevention of such tragic fatalities requires ongoing public awareness campaigns, using pamphlets such as the Australian Government’s blind and curtain cords safety alert brochure,2 to advise parents and child carers to keep cots and furniture that can be climbed on away from windows that have curtain or blind cords, to use cleats and cord wind-ups to keep cords at least 1.6 m above the floor, to cut loops, and to keep cords that must be looped under tension with tie-down devices. A safety tassel is also available that clips the two ends of a cord together but that easily separates when put under pressure.4 In addition, national legislation similar to that currently enacted in New South Wales and other states would provide uniform guidelines for managing these devices that would include warning labels and written safety information for parents.4