Race & Ethnicity, Neighborhood Poverty & Pediatric Firearm Hospitalizations in the United States

PURPOSE:

To better understand the effects of race and/or ethnicity and neighborhood poverty on pediatric firearm injuries in the United States, we compared overall and intent-specific firearm hospitalizations (FH) with those of pedestrian motor vehicle crash hospitalizations (PMVH).

METHODS:

We used Nationwide Inpatient Sample data (1998-2011) among 0-15 year-olds in a 1:1 case-case study; 4725 FH and 4725 PMVH matched by age, year, and region.

RESULTS:

Risk of FH versus PMVH was 64% higher among black children, Odds ratio (OR) = 1.64, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 1.44-1.87, as compared to white children (P < .0001); this risk did not vary by neighborhood poverty. Risk of homicide FH versus PMVH was 842% higher among black, 452% higher among Hispanics and 233% higher among other race compared to white children. There was a lower risk for unintentional FH among black, Hispanics (OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.49-0.74), and other compared to whites. These intent-specific risks attributed to race did not vary by neighborhood affluence.

CONCLUSIONS:

Black children were at greater likelihood of FH compared to white children regardless of neighborhood economic status. Minority children had an increased likelihood of intentional FH and a decreased likelihood of unintentional FH as compared to white children irrespective of neighborhood income.

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By:  Kalesan B1, Vyliparambil MA2, Bogue E3, Villarreal MD3, Vasan S3, Fagan J4, DiMaggio CJ3, Stylianos S5, Galea S6; Firearm Injury Research Group.

• 1Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY; Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston University, MA. Electronic address: kalesan@bu.edu.
• 2Fort Lee High School, Fort Lee, NJ.
• 3Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY.
• 4Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia Law School, New York, NY.
• 5Department of Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center, Columbia University, New York, NY.
• 6Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY; School of Public Health, Boston University, MA. 

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