Pediatric Emergency Department (ED) visits for firearm injuries doubled during the pandemic compared to previous trends, according to a multicenter study published in the journal Pediatrics . During this time, deaths from firearm injuries in children and adolescents that occurred after their arrival at the hospital also doubled: from 3 percent of ED visits before the pandemic to 6 percent of visits to the emergency department during the pandemic.
"With the pandemic we saw a dramatic increase in firearm purchases, which could have led to tragic increases in firearm injuries and deaths among children and adolescents," said lead author Jennifer Hoffmann, MD, an emergency physician. pediatrician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Firearm deaths after hospital arrival also doubled during the pandemic
Dr. Hoffmann and colleagues conducted a retrospective study of emergency department visits for firearm injuries among children younger than 18 years at nine urban U.S. hospitals participating in the Applied Research Network Registry. of Pediatric Emergency Care before and during the pandemic (January 2017 to February 2020 and November 2022).
There were 1904 emergency department visits among children for firearm injuries during the study period. Half were older adolescents (ages 15 to 17), two of every three gun injury visits were for black youth, and two of every three gun injury visits were for youth from low-income neighborhoods.
During the pandemic, ED visits for firearm injuries were higher than expected for youth ages 10 and older, for both male and female patients, as well as for Latino and Black youth, while visits to the emergency department for firearm injuries did not increase substantially among whites. youth. Increases in emergency department visits for firearm injuries were seen in youth in low-income neighborhoods as well as in more affluent areas.
"The increase in gun injuries across all socioeconomic groups indicates that no child in the US is immune to the increasing risks of gun violence ," said Dr. Hoffmann. “Evidence-based policy solutions are desperately needed to address this crisis. For example, child access prevention laws, which hold gun owners responsible if a child can or accesses a firearm, are associated with a decrease in gun deaths among youth.”
Dr. Hoffmann adds: “To prevent gun injuries in youth, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the enactment and enforcement of child access prevention laws, as well as universal background checks, buyer regulations, protective orders extreme risks and prohibitions on military-style semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines.” Dr. Hoffmann is a Children’s Research Fund Junior Board Research Fellow.
Research at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is conducted through the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute. The Manne Research Institute is focused on improving children’s health, transforming pediatric medicine, and ensuring healthier futures through the relentless pursuit of knowledge. Lurie Children’s is a nonprofit organization committed to providing access to exceptional care for every child. It is ranked as one of the best children’s hospitals in the country by US News & World Report. Lurie Children’s is the pediatric training camp of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Research focused on emergency medicine at Lurie Children’s is conducted through the Grainger Research Program in Pediatric Emergency Medicine.
