Harmonizing federal interagency traumatic brain injury research data to examine depression and suicide-related outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: This proof-of-concept study was conducted to establish the feasibility of compiling Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Research (FITBIR) data pertaining to depression and suicide risk, with the secondary goal of improving understanding regarding these outcomes. FITBIR is a national repository of participant-level traumatic brain injury (TBI) data designed to address methodological limitations (e.g., small sample size, heterogeneity of injuries). METHOD: FITBIR studies with TBI severity and measures related to depression and suicidal ideation were identified. Data were harmonized across relevant studies and grouped to identify "probable depression" and suicidal ideation, resulting in a large, combined sample. Rates of probable depression and suicidal ideation were described across the available studies, considering the influence of demographic and/or injury-related factors on outcomes. RESULTS: Cross-sectional studies meeting criteria included four studies with depression outcomes and two with suicidal ideation outcomes. Two studies reported data appropriate for comparative analyses on depression. Combined results suggested that approximately 71% of participants were categorized as having probable depression. Participants with a history of mild TBI had 2.54 greater odds of probable depression (95% confidence interval [1.93, 3.34]) than those without a history of TBI. CONCLUSIONS: Methods, harmonization code, and meta-databases related to TBI, probable depression, and suicidal ideation are now publicly available on the FITBIR website. Even with limited data, harmonization of FITBIR studies can serve as the basis for ongoing TBI and mental health research. Analyses will be more robust in the future as more studies with relevant outcome data are added to the FITBIR database. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Interpersonal Firearm Injury and Death in Portland, Oregon: 2018 Through 2021.

The annual number of firearm injuries in Portland, Oregon has been higher in the years since 2020 than in any prior year in the city's history. This descriptive study analyzed data from Gun Violence Archives (GVA) from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021. All incidents in GVA of interpersonal firearm injury that occurred in Portland during this period were analyzed for location, number of people injured or killed, and demographic information for those injured or killed. Comparisons in firearm injury rates were made with Seattle and San Francisco. Interpersonal firearm injuries began to rise after the first COVID-19 case in Oregon; July 2020 had the most injuries in the four-year period. Black men suffered the highest rate of interpersonal fatalities, with more than 11-fold higher rate per 100,000 than White men in every year studied. Portland had a higher rate of total interpersonal firearm injuries and a higher rate of firearm fatalities from 2018 through 2021 compared to Seattle and San Francisco. Neighborhoods near Downtown and those on the Eastside of the city had the highest rates of interpersonal injuries and deaths from firearms, whereas those in the Southwest had the lowest. Defining the burden of disease from interpersonal firearm injuries is a fundamental step in designing future public health research and implementing interventions to curb the trauma brought by interpersonal firearm injury.