The Nation : Day Care Centers Held Safer Than Home

Day care centers appear to be safer places for children than their own homes, government researchers reported. The new study involving Atlanta day care centers found children are about half as likely to be injured at a day care center than at home. “Children in organized, licensed day care may have a lower rate of injury than those cared for at home,” researchers from the federal Centers for Disease Control reported in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The study, involving 5,300 children attending 71 day care centers in Atlanta from June 1, 1987, through May 31, 1988, is the most comprehensive of its kind, said Dr. Jeffrey Sacks, who led the research. Researchers found 143 injuries requiring medical attention occurred during the study period, which works out to 14.3 injuries for every 100 children attending the centers. That figure is about half the 35 per 100 found previously by other studies on children outside day care centers.