WASHINGTON — Doctors and staffers in emergency rooms in nine states and the District of Columbia are treating a new patient with a firearm injury every 30 minutes, according to new research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study, which was published last week in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, aims to fill a long-standing gap in firearm injury data.
While both the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project and the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System collect such data, neither has historically captured information on the precise day or time of an injury.
The study analyzed over 93,000 emergency room visits for firearm injury through data from the CDC’s Firearm Injury Surveillance Through Emergency Rooms, or FASTER, which collects real-time data from select jurisdictions.
The timeframe for the analysis was Jan. 1, 2018, through Aug. 31, 2023, and, in addition to the District of Columbia, the states included in the research were Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
What the CDC researchers found was that emergency room visits due to firearms are not evenly distributed. Most occur at night, on weekends, and during some holidays more than others, particularly Independence Day and New Year’s Eve.
Recognizing when firearm injury emergency room visits tend to be higher can help inform decisions on staffing, research allocation and other issues, the researchers said, resulting in better care.
Looking at firearm injury occurrences over the course of the day, the researchers found they were consistently highest between 2:30 a.m. and 3 a.m., and consistently lowest between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
Similarly, the overall mean rates were highest Friday, Saturday and Sunday and lowest, Monday through Thursday.
Nighttime peaks were most pronounced on Friday and Saturday nights.
Daily rates were lowest on March 1 (with only 50.8 firearm injury visits per 100,000 emergency room visits and highest on Dec. 31, New Year’s Eve, with 141.1 firearm injury visits per 100,000 emergency room visits, and July 4, Independence Day, with 158.7 per 100,000 emergency room visits.
Monthly rates of firearm injury emergency room visits were highest in July and lowest in February.
Daily rates of firearm injuries were disproportionately high on most holidays, with the highest daily rates occurring on Independence Day, New Year’s Eve, Christmas and Halloween.
Overall, the study is yet another sign that firearm-related injuries, as well as firearm-related deaths, remain a pressing public health concern in the United States.
In 2021, firearm-related homicides reached their highest level in approximately three decades, the researchers noted.
Although firearm homicides have since decreased nationwide, provisional estimates of 2023 deaths remain elevated relative to pre-pandemic levels.
Concerningly, the researchers said, firearm suicides have continued to increase each year and currently are at their highest level in more than 50 years.
Furthermore, firearm injuries are the leading cause of death among children and teens in the United States, they added.
Source: The Well News / Digpu NewsTex