Geospatial Clustering Seen in Pediatric Firearm Injuries
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, March 17, 2025 -- Geospatial clusters are seen in pediatric firearm injuries, and most of these incidents occur within the same zip code as the child's home, according to a study published online March 12 in Pediatrics.
Craig D. Newgard, M.D., M.P.H., from the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study from Jan. 1, 2012, through Dec. 31, 2022, to examine spatial clustering of pediatric firearm injuries using national 9-1-1 emergency medical services (EMS) responses for children aged 0 to 17 years in 50 states. Spatial changes were examined over time for 37 states with continuous data over the study period.
The researchers found that there were 10,521,575 9-1-1 EMS responses from 30,393 incident zip codes during the study period, including 26,101 (0.25 percent) for firearm injuries (14.1 and 85.9 percent in children [0 to 10 years] and adolescents [11 to 17 years], respectively). Overall, 80.9 percent of the firearm injuries among 3,679 children occurred in their home zip code and 40.5 percent occurred in a cluster; among 22,422 adolescents with firearm injuries, 69.7 and 51.5 percent occurred in their home zip code and in a cluster, respectively. Among 6,103,297 events in 11,433 zip codes in 37 states, 47.8 and 32.1 percent clustered zip codes were new for children and adolescents, respectively, in 2022; similar results were seen using home zip codes.
"The rate of pediatric firearm injuries and number of hotspots increased over time, with many new zip codes included as hotspots in 2022," the authors write.
Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted March 2025
Read this next
Swept-Source Anterior Segment OCT Can Help Distinguish Early Childhood Glaucoma
FRIDAY, May 23, 2025 -- The noninvasive swept-source anterior-segment optical coherence tomography (SS-ASOCT) can diagnose early-onset childhood glaucoma, according to a study...
Semaglutide Plus Intensive Behavioral Therapy Most Beneficial for Weight Loss
FRIDAY, May 23, 2025 -- Weight loss treatment combining personalized semaglutide with intensive behavioral therapy (IBT) yields weight loss similar to that reported in...
Higher Social Media Use Tied to Subsequent Depressive Symptoms in Youth
FRIDAY, May 23, 2025 -- Higher social media use is associated with greater subsequent depressive symptoms in children and adolescents, according to a study published online May 21...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.