Researchers have called for a nationwide ban on crib bumpers after a study demonstrated they are contributing to an increase in infant deaths.

The findings dispute claims that other items found in cribs such as blankets and stuffed animals are a frequent cause of infant death, the Washington University School of Medicine reported. The study also showed 23 crib-bumper deaths reported to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) between 2006 and 2012 were higher than the average of eight deaths reported during the previous three seven-year spans.

"Crib bumpers are killing kids," said senior author Bradley T. Thach, a professor emeritus of pediatrics at the School of Medicine and the author of a landmark study published in 2007 that first documented crib-bumper deaths. "Bumpers are more dangerous than we originally thought. The infant deaths we studied could have been prevented if the cribs were empty."

There are currently no federal regulations regarding crib bumpers, but a voluntary industry standard was revised to improve crib-bumper safety by limiting the items' thickness. The recent review attributed 48 infant deaths between the years of 1985 and 2012 to crib bumpers. Additionally, there were 146 cases of crib-bumper incidents in which infants almost suffocated or choked. A review of data from the National Center for the Review and Prevention of Child Deaths revealed reports of 32 additional bumper-related deaths between 2008 and 2011, bumping up the number of bumper-related deaths to 77; the researchers believe this number may be even higher.

The sale of crib bumpers is already banned in Maryland and Chicago, and the researchers are recommending that the CPSC follow their lead.

"When a baby's nose and mouth is covered by a bumper, the infant can suffocate when his or her airway becomes blocked, or from breathing oxygen-depleted air," said lead author N.J. Scheers, PhD, former manager of CPSC's Infant Suffocation Project. "So if bumpers had not been in the cribs, these babies would not have died."

The findings were published in a recent edition of the Journal of Pediatrics.