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Abstract
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Firearm-related violence is a significant public health problem that requires a comprehensive approach to prevention that includes engagement and action by clinicians and health care systems. The effects of firearm-related violence on health care include immediate treatment for injuries, long-term care (eg, for spinal cord injuries and trauma), and a substantial toll on clinicians related to secondary traumatic stress. Firearms are the method of injury for most homicides and suicides (79% and 53%, respectively, in 2020).1 The circumstances of 2020, including the COVID-19 pandemic and community-law enforcement tensions related to law enforcement use of force, have potentially contributed to increased risks for homicide and suicide, including exacerbating the social and structural factors that drive racial and ethnic inequities.1
A recent report released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a 35% increase in the firearm homicide rate in the US between 2019 and 2020, with 14 392 deaths (rate of 4.6 per 100 000 persons) in 2019 and 19 350 deaths (rate of 6.1 per 100 000) in 2020.1 With this increase, the firearm homicide rate in 2020 was the highest in more than 25 years. The firearm suicide rate in 2020 (24 245 deaths; rate of 8.1 per 100 000 persons aged ≥10 years) stayed near record high levels after steady increases leveled off in 2018.1
Several existing inequities in firearm mortality rates widened in 2020. For example, counties with higher poverty levels already had the highest firearm homicide rates, and these counties also experienced the greatest increases. County poverty levels likely reflect a range of risk factors that contribute to violence and inequities. Even though 24% of the US population lived in high-poverty counties in 2020, 39% of the non-Hispanic Black population and 44% of the non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native population lived in these high-poverty counties. In 2020, among males aged 10 to 24 years, non-Hispanic Black youth had the highest firearm homicide rate (77.3/100 000) and non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native youth had the highest firearm suicide rate (23.4/100 000) and these groups experienced the largest rate increases from 2019 (41% and 67%, respectively).1
Health care professionals and systems have an essential role in comprehensive strategies to reduce violence and suicide and corresponding inequities in communities...
Language: en |