TY - JOUR
T1 - A Geospatial Analysis of Severe Firearm Injuries Compared to Other Injury Mechanisms
T2 - Event Characteristics, Location, Timing, and Outcomes
AU - Newgard, Craig D.
AU - Sanchez, Brittany J.
AU - Bulger, Eileen M.
AU - Brasel, Karen J.
AU - Byers, Adam
AU - Buick, Jason E.
AU - Sheehan, Kellie L.
AU - Guyette, Frank X.
AU - King, Richard V.
AU - Mena-Munoz, Jorge
AU - Minei, Joseph P.
AU - Schmicker, Robert H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.
PY - 2016/5/1
Y1 - 2016/5/1
N2 - Objectives Relatively little is known about the context and location of firearm injury events. Using a prospective cohort of trauma patients, we describe and compare severe firearm injury events to other violent and nonviolent injury mechanisms regarding incident location, proximity to home, time of day, spatial clustering, and outcomes. Methods This was a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort of injured children and adults with hypotension or Glasgow Coma Scale score ≤ 8, injured by one of four primary injury mechanisms (firearm, stabbing, assault, and motor vehicle collision [MVC]) who were transported by emergency medical services to a Level I or II trauma center in 10 regions of the United States and Canada from January 1, 2010, through June 30, 2011. We used descriptive statistics and geospatial analyses to compare the injury groups, distance from home, outcomes, and spatial clustering. Results There were 2,079 persons available for analysis, including 506 (24.3%) firearm injuries, 297 (14.3%) stabbings, 339 (16.3%) assaults, and 950 (45.7%) MVCs. Firearm injuries resulted in the highest proportion of serious injuries (66.3%), early critical resources (75.3%), and in-hospital mortality (53.5%). Injury events occurring within 1 mile of a patient's home included 53.9% of stabbings, 49.2% of firearm events, 41.3% of assaults, and 20.0% of MVCs; the non-MVC events frequently occurred at home. While there was geospatial clustering, 94.4% of firearm events occurred outside of geographic clusters. Conclusions Severe firearm events tend to occur within a patient's own neighborhood, often at home, and generally outside of geospatial clusters. Public health efforts should focus on the home in all types of neighborhoods to reduce firearm violence.
AB - Objectives Relatively little is known about the context and location of firearm injury events. Using a prospective cohort of trauma patients, we describe and compare severe firearm injury events to other violent and nonviolent injury mechanisms regarding incident location, proximity to home, time of day, spatial clustering, and outcomes. Methods This was a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort of injured children and adults with hypotension or Glasgow Coma Scale score ≤ 8, injured by one of four primary injury mechanisms (firearm, stabbing, assault, and motor vehicle collision [MVC]) who were transported by emergency medical services to a Level I or II trauma center in 10 regions of the United States and Canada from January 1, 2010, through June 30, 2011. We used descriptive statistics and geospatial analyses to compare the injury groups, distance from home, outcomes, and spatial clustering. Results There were 2,079 persons available for analysis, including 506 (24.3%) firearm injuries, 297 (14.3%) stabbings, 339 (16.3%) assaults, and 950 (45.7%) MVCs. Firearm injuries resulted in the highest proportion of serious injuries (66.3%), early critical resources (75.3%), and in-hospital mortality (53.5%). Injury events occurring within 1 mile of a patient's home included 53.9% of stabbings, 49.2% of firearm events, 41.3% of assaults, and 20.0% of MVCs; the non-MVC events frequently occurred at home. While there was geospatial clustering, 94.4% of firearm events occurred outside of geographic clusters. Conclusions Severe firearm events tend to occur within a patient's own neighborhood, often at home, and generally outside of geospatial clusters. Public health efforts should focus on the home in all types of neighborhoods to reduce firearm violence.
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U2 - 10.1111/acem.12930
DO - 10.1111/acem.12930
M3 - Article
C2 - 26836571
AN - SCOPUS:84963595069
SN - 1069-6563
VL - 23
SP - 554
EP - 565
JO - Academic Emergency Medicine
JF - Academic Emergency Medicine
IS - 5
ER -