Gunshot wounds to the head: gang- and non-gang-related injuries and outcomes.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined the differences between gang and non-gang-related incidents of penetrative missile injuries in terms of demographics, motivation, intra-cranial pathology, transit time, injury time and clinical outcome.


METHODS
Retrospective and prospective chart review.


METHODS
Between 1985-1992, 349 patients with penetrating missile injuries to the brain presenting to LAC-USC were studied.


METHODS
Inclusion criteria were implemented to keep the cohort as homogenous as possible. Patients excluded were those with multiple gunshot wounds, non-penetrating gunshot wounds to the head, systemic injuries and cases in which the motivation for the incident was unknown.


RESULTS
Gang-related shooting slightly out-numbered non-gang-related incidents. Demographic analysis showed both a male and Hispanic predominance for both gang- and non-gang-related victims and significant differences in gender, race and age. Occipital entrance sites were more common in the gang-related vs temporal entrance sites in the non-gang-related. Mean transit time to the emergency department for gang-related shootings was less than non-gang-related shootings (24.4 vs 27.8 minutes). Most shooting incidents took place between 6pm and 3am. No difference between survival and outcome was noted between gang and non-gang victims.


CONCLUSIONS
Significant differences were found between gang- and non-gang-related shooting victims in terms of demographics, entrance site and transit time. No difference was found between injury time, survival and outcome between gang and non-gang populations.
Aryan
H E
HE
Division of Neurosurgery, University of California, San Diego, CA 92103-8893, USA. hearyan@ucsd.edu
Jandial
R
R
Bennett
R L
RL
Masri
L S
LS
Lavine
S D
SD
Levy
M L
ML
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D019548:Crime Victims; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010379:Peer Group; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014187:Transportation of Patients; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014754:Violence / Q000208:ethnology; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery