Risk for pediatric firearm reinjury 6 percent at one year after initial injury, study finds

The risk for firearm reinjury among children who present with acute nonfatal firearm injury is 6 and 14 percent at one and five years, respectively, after initial injury, according to a study published online Sept. 17 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Zoe M. Miller, M.P.H., from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues examined the factors associated with recurrent firearm injury among children who presented with acute (index) nonfatal firearm injury in a multicenter, observation cohort study conducted at two adult and two pediatric level I trauma hospitals. Participants included 1,340 pediatric patients aged 0 to 17 years presenting with an index firearm injury between 2010 and 2019.

The researchers found that most patients were Black and non-Hispanic (87 and 99 percent, respectively), male (84 percent), and aged 15 to 17 years (67 percent). At one and five years after initial injury, the estimated risk for firearm reinjury was 6 and 14 percent, respectively. Increased risk for reinjury was seen for male children and those seen at an adult hospital.

“This study highlights the high cumulative incidence of children experiencing recurrent firearm injuries in St. Louis and identifies racial and social vulnerability disparities in this group,” the authors write.

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