Skip to main content
PMC home page
Injury Prevention logoLink to Injury Prevention
. 2002 Jun;8(2):147–150. doi: 10.1136/ip.8.2.147

Risk factors associated with non-fatal adolescent firearm injuries

C Paris 1, E Edgerton 1, M Sifuentes 1, J Seidel 1, R Lewis 1, M Gausche 1
PMCID: PMC1730836  PMID: 12120835

Abstract

Study objective: To identify behavioral, environmental, and sociodemographic risk factors associated with non-fatal firearm injuries among inner city adolescents in the United States.

Design: A case-control study in which patients with firearm injury serve as cases and those with medical conditions serve as controls.

Setting: A level I trauma center in a metropolitan area serving a predominately lower socioeconomic status population.

Participants: Cases were 45 consecutive patients 11–18 years presenting to the emergency department with a non-fatal firearm injury; controls were 50 age and gender matched patients presenting with acute medical problems.

Outcome measure: Odds ratios (OR) and associated 95% confidence intervals (CI) as estimates of the magnitude of association between risk factors and non-fatal firearm injury.

Results: After adjusting for age, gender and socioeconomic status, multivariate analysis identified four risk factors independently associated with firearm injury: living with less than two parents (OR 3.8, 95% CI 1.2 to 12.2), skipping class (OR 7.1, 95% CI 1.7 to 28.9), previous arrest (OR 6.2, 95% CI 1.9 to 20.7), and being African-American (OR 4.2; 95% CI 1.4 to 14.9).

Conclusion: Risk factors for adolescents sustaining a non-fatal firearm injury are sociodemographic and environmental, not just behavioral. Thus interventions that foster protective and supportive environments may help prevent firearm injuries.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (101.6 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Certification of poliomyelitis eradication--Western Pacific Region, October 2000. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2001 Jan 12;50(1):1–3. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cohen E., Mackenzie R. G., Yates G. L. HEADSS, a psychosocial risk assessment instrument: implications for designing effective intervention programs for runaway youth. J Adolesc Health. 1991 Nov;12(7):539–544. doi: 10.1016/0197-0070(91)90084-y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Durkin M. S., Kuhn L., Davidson L. L., Laraque D., Barlow B. Epidemiology and prevention of severe assault and gun injuries to children in an urban community. J Trauma. 1996 Oct;41(4):667–673. doi: 10.1097/00005373-199610000-00012. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fingerhut L. A., Ingram D. D., Feldman J. J. Firearm and nonfirearm homicide among persons 15 through 19 years of age. Differences by level of urbanization, United States, 1979 through 1989. JAMA. 1992 Jun 10;267(22):3048–3053. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gausche M., Seidel J. S., Henderson D. P., Ness B., Ward P. M., Wayland B. W. Violent death in the pediatric age group: rural and urban differences. Pediatr Emerg Care. 1989 Mar;5(1):64–67. doi: 10.1097/00006565-198903000-00018. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kellermann A. L., Rivara F. P., Lee R. K., Banton J. G., Cummings P., Hackman B. B., Somes G. Injuries due to firearms in three cities. N Engl J Med. 1996 Nov 7;335(19):1438–1444. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199611073351906. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Laraque D., Barlow B., Durkin M., Howell J., Cladis F., Friedman D., DiScala C., Ivatury R., Stahl W. Children who are shot: a 30-year experience. J Pediatr Surg. 1995 Jul;30(7):1072–1076. doi: 10.1016/0022-3468(95)90344-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Nance M. L., Stafford P. W., Schwab C. W. Firearm injury among urban youth during the last decade: an escalation in violence. J Pediatr Surg. 1997 Jul;32(7):949–952. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3468(97)90375-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Powell E. C., Tanz R. R. Child and adolescent injury and death from urban firearm assaults: association with age, race, and poverty. Inj Prev. 1999 Mar;5(1):41–47. doi: 10.1136/ip.5.1.41. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Slap G. B., Chaudhuri S., Vorters D. F. Risk factors for injury during adolescence. J Adolesc Health. 1991 May;12(3):263–268. doi: 10.1016/0197-0070(91)90021-d. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Spingarn R. W., DuRant R. H. Male adolescents involved in pregnancy: associated health risk and problem behaviors. Pediatrics. 1996 Aug;98(2 Pt 1):262–268. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Woods E. R., Lin Y. G., Middleman A., Beckford P., Chase L., DuRant R. H. The associations of suicide attempts in adolescents. Pediatrics. 1997 Jun;99(6):791–796. doi: 10.1542/peds.99.6.791. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Yates G. L., MacKenzie R., Pennbridge J., Cohen E. A risk profile comparison of runaway and non-runaway youth. Am J Public Health. 1988 Jul;78(7):820–821. doi: 10.2105/ajph.78.7.820. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Injury Prevention are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES