PLoS ONE (Jan 2023)

Firearm injuries in Missouri.

  • Frederick P Rivara,
  • Ashley B Hink,
  • Deborah Kuhls,
  • Samantha Banks,
  • Lauren L Agoubi,
  • Shelbie Kirkendoll,
  • Alex Winchester,
  • Christopher Hoeft,
  • Bhavin Patel,
  • Avery Nathens

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294737
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 18, no. 11
p. e0294737

Abstract

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Firearm deaths continue to be a major public health problem, but the number of non-fatal firearm injuries and the characteristics of patients and injuries is not well known. The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, with support from the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research, leveraged an existing data system to capture lethal and non-lethal injuries, including patients treated and discharged from the emergency department and collect additional data on firearm injuries that present to trauma centers. In 2020, Missouri had the 4th highest firearm mortality rate in the country at 23.75/100,000 population compared to 13.58/100,000 for the US overall. We examined the characteristics of patients from Missouri with firearm injuries in this cross-sectional study. Of the overall 17,395 patients, 1,336 (7.7%) were treated at one of the 11 participating trauma centers in Missouri during the 12-month study period. Patients were mostly male and much more likely to be Black and uninsured than residents in the state as a whole. Nearly three-fourths of the injuries were due to assaults, and overall 7.7% died. Few patients received post-discharge services.