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


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


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


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


METHODS
Odds ratios (OR) and associated 95% confidence interval (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).


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Paris
C A
CA
Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, WA 98105, USA. cparis@chmc.org
Edgerton
E A
EA
Sifuentes
M
M
Seidel
J S
JS
Lewis
R J
RJ
Gausche
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D014861:Washington / Q000453:epidemiology; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000453:epidemiology*