Children and adolescents appear to be most vulnerable to the risks of using and owning firearms. A new study, which was published in the journal Pediatrics Jan. 27, has found that gunshot wounds account for the hospitalization 20 kids every day in the U.S.
Researchers led by John Leventhal, a professor of pediatrics and medical director of the Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital child abuse program, reviewed the 2009 Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) to identify firearm-related hospitalizations in young people who are below 20 years old. They found 7,391 cases suggesting that 20 kids in the U.S. are brought to the hospital everyday because of gunshot wounds. Of these young shooting victims, 453 died in the hospital.
The researchers found that 75 percent of the cases involving children 10 years and below were caused by accidental injuries. Some of the cases had undetermined causes and some were suicide attempts.
The most common firearm injury is open an wound, followed by fractures and internal injuries of the chest, abdomen or pelvis but there were children who had injuries that could cause long-term disabilities and require years of rehabilitation, such as traumatic brain, nerves or spinal cord injuries.
More than 80 percent of the shootings also involved teens who were between 15 to 19 years old and two thirds of these involved assaults. Researchers noted that black males had 10 times as many firearm-related hospitalizations than white males.
Leventhal believes that gang violence is responsible for many gunshot injuries.
"Some of these are school shootings, some are gang-related, some are related to fights or disagreements," he said. "They all relate to access to guns."
The researchers said public health efforts could reduce firearm related injuries in kids.
"Pediatricians and other health care providers can play an important role in preventing these injuries through counseling about firearm safety, including safe storage," said Leventhal.
They also recommended that parents follow the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendations on firearms.
"The AAP recommends that the safest home for a family is a home without guns," said study co-author Dr. Robert Sege, a pediatrician and director of the division of family and child advocacy at Boston Medical Center. "If there is a gun in the home, the gun should be stored unloaded and locked, and the ammunition should be stored separately."
