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Majority of Pediatric Gun Injuries Intentional, Study Shows

A new study finds the number of gun-related injuries among children is higher than previously recorded and the majority of such incidents are intentional, findings that researchers say are significant.

According to lead study author Dr. Saranya Srinivasan, these findings may mean that the scope of this problem may be underestimated.

From 1999 to 2007, there were 185,950 emergency department visits in the U.S. for firearm injuries in children 19 and under, which averages about 20,600 each year.

Srinivasan and her colleagues found that approximately 20,600 firearm injuries happen each year in children under 19, according to data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey of U.S. emergency department and ambulatory care visits. For this study, researched looked at factors including age, race, hospital location and insurance type.

Of these injuries, 8,368 or 4.5 percent, were fatal. Sixty- three percent of these injuries were intentional, while a third of these injuries, or about 37 percent, were unintentional.

Boys, adolescents aged 11 and older, and blacks were at a higher risk for an emergency department visit secondary to a firearm injury. Researchers say the most gun injuries among children occurred in the South at 47 percent, while the least number occurred in the Northeast at 5 percent.

Researchers say this study will help put the focus on child populations that are at greatest risk for gun injuries.

“We hope this research will bring attention to the issue of pediatric firearm injuries,” Srinivasan said in a news release. “And that we can continue to focus our efforts on firearm injury prevention campaigns, including targeting the regions and groups at the greatest risk for these injuries.”

For more on child safety issues, see the library of articles by Daytona Beach child injury attorney.

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