Associate Professor of Pediatrics Children's National Health System washington, District of Columbia, United States
Background: The prevalence of gun violence in the United States poses a significant threat to the well-being of children and young individuals, thus warranting attention as a public health concern. The United States (US) is prominent in gun-related injuries among high-income countries. Objective: This study examines the prevailing incidence of gun violence in different states and analyzes the spatial distribution of gun violence and child fatalities across the United States. Design/Methods: This study employs a retrospective design to examine incidents of child fatalities and injuries connected to gun violence in all 50 states. The data included in this study was obtained from publicly available records from July 2014 to September 2023. The counts of gun violence in each state were determined and divided by ten years to calculate the incidence rate. The states and cities/counties that had the highest death rates were documented. We conducted geocoding for each instance of gun violence. The distribution of gun violence incidents is visually represented on the map. The Empiric Bayes Kriging technique was employed to provide predictions regarding child fatalities resulting from gun violence. The hexagonal window approach was utilized to do the hotspot analysis. Results: In ten years, there were 2,000 gun violence incidents. The median child mortality rate for ten years was 3, ranging from 0.1 to 33. The child injury rate exhibited a median value of 0.4, with a range spanning from 0 to 7.7. There is a significant gap in the 10-year child death and injury trend. The states with the highest child mortality rates, ranked in descending order, were Texas, Florida, California, Ohio, and Missouri. Similarly, the cities or counties that showed a decreasing tendency in death rates were Houston, Saint Louis, Chicago, Memphis, and Louisville. The Pacific, West South Central, East North Central, East South Central, and South Atlantic regions have documented elevated levels of gun violence. A significant concentration of gun violence incidents characterizes the eastern region of the United States. The map prediction depicts the incidence of child fatalities resulting from gun violence in the West South-Central region.
Conclusion(s): The morbidity associated with gun violence poses a substantial burden inside the United States. Gun violence exhibits geographic disparities. Implementing more stringent gun control regulations, public awareness, and comprehensive safety education is needed.
