Recurrent firearm injury common among firearm injury survivors, especially among young, Black males

Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-0069 

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A study of more than 10,000 persons with firearm injury found that recurrent injury is common among firearm injury survivors. Survivors experiencing recurrent injury were most often young, male, Black, and uninsured. These findings highlight the need for interventions to prevent recurrent injury. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Firearm injury is a known and ongoing public health crisis in the United States. It is the leading cause of death for Americans ages one to 19 years of age, and disproportionately affects Black children and young adults. Previous evaluations have estimated that nonfatal firearm injuries occur at twice the rate of fatal firearm injuries, but this may be an underestimate.

Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine participated in the development of the St. Louis Region-Wide Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (HVIP) Data Repository (STL-HVIP-DR). The repository houses data on all patients who present to 1 of the 4 St. Louis adult or pediatric level I trauma hospitals with a violent injury, including firearm injury. The authors identified 9,553 persons who survived initial firearm injury and observed that 1,155 persons experienced recurrent firearm injury over an average follow-up period of 3.5 years. The authors found that persons experiencing recurrent firearm injury were often young. They report that 93 percent of persons were male, 96 percent were Black, and half were uninsured. Most resided in areas of high social vulnerability.. They also found that the estimated risk for firearm reinjury increased each year, beginning at 7 percent risk after one year and increasing to 17 percent risk at eight years. According to the authors, their findings highlight the need for interventions including community-based care, counseling, and substance use disorder screening to prevent recurrent firearm injury and death.

Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Angela Collom at [email protected]. To speak with the corresponding author Kristen L. Mueller, MD, please email Diane Williams at [email protected].