Introduction: Gun violence is a substantial public health problem accounting for significant physical, psychological, and financial costs. Although aggregate data sources demonstrate decreasing rates of firearm violence, analyses from individual trauma centers have shown that mortality and injury severity from gunshot wounds (GSWs) are increasing. To evaluate the evolving characteristics of gun violence in our region, we studied all GSWs admitted to our trauma center over a 20-year period.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of all newly admitted patients with GSWs was performed from 1996 to 2016. Our trauma registry was used to collect data on demographics, mortality, injury severity, body regions injured, and geographic location of injury. Homicide data were obtained from local law enforcement.
Results: A total of 11,294 patients with GSWs were reviewed. The number of GSWs treated per biennium increased from 1,349 in 1996-1997 to 1,484 in 2014-2015, with a 59% increase occurring from 2010-2011 to 2014-2015. Overall mortality was 14.6% and decreased from 15.8% in 1996-1997 to 10.2% in 2014-2015 (p < 0.0001). Mean Injury Severity Score was 12.6 and the percentage of patients who suffered GSWs to ≥3 Abbreviated Injury Scale body regions increased from 2.5% in 1996-1997 to 7.7% in 2014-2015 (p < 0.0001). Local firearm homicide data show a 118% increase from 2010 to 2016.
Conclusions: In contrast to other recent studies, we found that mortality decreased whereas the number of patients treated for GSWs and those with multicompartmental injuries increased. The decrease in mortality suggests improved trauma systems as well as an increase in nonfatal GSWs that dilutes overall mortality. Wounding in multiple body regions suggests more effective weaponry, including increased magazine size. The recent increase in local homicides parallels trends in registry data and illustrates worsening gun violence in our region. Further research is needed to understand local and regional determinants of increased gun violence to better guide prevention strategies.
Level Of Evidence: Epidemiological study, level III.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/TA.0000000000001635 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Impact of a clinician-directed educational program on communicating with patients regarding gun violence at two community urban healthcare centers.
J Osteopath Med
January 2025
Department of Institutional Research, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Context: Gun violence negatively impacts not only victims but also their families and surrounding communities. Resources and counseling services may be available to support families affected by gun violence, but the families and their clinicians may not know about these resources or how to access them.
Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of a clinician-directed educational program on patient reports of their discussions with their physician regarding gun violence, prevention, and available resources for support and treatment.
Caught in the Crossfire: A Single Institution's 10-Year Experience with Pediatric Firearm Injury.
J Am Coll Surg
January 2025
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Surgery, Dallas, TX.
Introduction: Pediatric firearm-related injuries are now the leading cause of death among children in the United States. We sought to characterize the experience of a large free-standing children's hospital treating children with firearm injuries.
Methods: We reviewed all 2012-2022 gunshot wound encounters using the institutional trauma database of an urban Level 1 pediatric trauma center in Texas.
Addressing the Triple Trauma of Factors Leading to Perinatal Health and Mental Health Consequences in Two Upstate New York Communities.
Behav Sci (Basel)
December 2024
Public Health & Anthropology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA.
This article focuses on the impact of trauma experienced by individuals, families and groups, and neighborhoods in Rochester and Syracuse, New York. Using the levels of analysis put forward in Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMass shootings durably increase the sale of alcohol in American communities.
PNAS Nexus
January 2025
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 W Johnson St, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Mass shootings are devastating events. Communities can cope with the ensuing trauma in a number of ways, including changing their behavioral patterns. Using point-of-sale data from 35,000 individual retailers, including more than half of all American grocery and drugstore purchases, and all American mass shootings from 2006 to 2019, we find, in a set of two-way fixed-effects counterfactual analyses, that a mass shooting in a given community (the area covered by the ZIP-3 code) predicts a significant increase in the sales of alcohol that lasts at least 2 years past the shooting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFValuing the benefits of reducing firearm violence in the United States.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637.
Justifying a proposed government regulation intended to reduce firearm violence requires a conceptually sound estimate of the monetized value of that impact and how that value is distributed across the population. Some previous estimates do not serve as a valid basis for policy evaluation or are out of date. A nationally representative survey was conducted by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in August 2022 (n = 660).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!