Findings based on analysis of 22 years of inpatient hospital data
FRIDAY, March 9, 2018 (HealthDay News) — The severity of hospitalized firearm injuries increased significantly from 1993 to 2014, according to a study published online Feb. 13 in Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open.
Bindu Kalesan, M.P.H., Ph.D., from Boston University, and colleagues analyzed the overall, age-, sex- and intent-specific trends in the injury severity of firearm hospitalizations from 1993 to 2014 using Nationwide Inpatient Sample data inpatient admissions (648,662 hospitalizations).
The researchers found that firearm injury severity demonstrated a significant annual increase of 1.4 percent and was driven by annual hospitalization increases among young adults (annual percent change [APC], 1.4 percent), older adults (APC, 1.5 percent), female (APC, 1.5 percent), and male (APC, 1.4 percent). Similar annual increases were seen by intent: 1.4 percent for assault/legal injuries, 1.4 percent unintentional, 1.5 percent intentional self-harm, and 1.4 percent undetermined.
“The severity of hospitalized firearm injuries increased significantly from 1993 to 2014,” the authors write. “This annual increase reflects a move towards hospitalization of more serious injuries, and outpatient management of less serious injuries across the board, suggesting a mounting burden on the U.S. health care system.”
Copyright © 2018 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
