Experiencing Bullying Is Associated With Firearm Access, Weapon Carriage, Depression, Marijuana Use, and Justice Involvement in Adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to assess whether bullying experience among youths is associated with firearm access and to evaluate assault perpetration risk factors between bullied and nonbullied adolescents. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey designed to measure self-reported social determinants of health and behavioral health risks among adolescents (13-21 years) in a pediatric emergency department between July 2017 and August 2019. Participants were included in this subanalysis if they responded to a survey item that assessed bullying. Multivariable logistic regression was used to measure the association of firearm access, weapon carriage, and assault perpetration factors (violence, mental health, substance abuse, and justice involvement) with bullying after adjustment for sex, race/ethnicity, and insurance status. RESULTS: Of the 369 participants meeting inclusion criteria, 147 adolescents (40.5%) reported experiencing bullying. Bullied teenagers had higher odds of a gun in the home (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-7.8]), weapon carriage (aOR, 5.6; 95% CI, 1.6-18.8), witnessing an assault (aOR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.6-5.6), negative experience with law enforcement (aOR, 4.5; 95% CI, 2.2-9.2), mental health diagnosis (aOR, 3.9; 95% CI, 2.3-6.7), and marijuana use (aOR, 2.7; 95% CI, 1.1-7.0]). CONCLUSIONS: More than 1 in 3 adolescents presenting to the emergency department report having ever experienced bullying. Bullied teenagers have a higher likelihood of firearm access, weapon carriage, and violent injury perpetration risk factors compared with nonbullied youths. Further studies are needed to understand the relationship between bullying and assault perpetration.

Pediatric Blunt Abdominal Trauma and Point-of-Care Ultrasound.

ABSTRACT: Blunt abdominal trauma (BAT) accounts for most trauma in children. Although the focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) is considered standard of care in the evaluation of adults with traumatic injuries, there is limited evidence to support its use as an isolated evaluation tool for intra-abdominal injury as a result of BAT in children. Although a positive FAST examination could obviate the need for a computed tomography scan before OR evaluation in a hemodynamically unstable patient, a negative FAST examination cannot exclude intra-abdominal injury as a result of BAT in isolation. In this article, we review the evaluation of BAT in children, describe the evaluation for free intraperitoneal fluid and pericardial fluid using the FAST examination, and discuss the limitations of the FAST examination in pediatric patients.

Violent Injury as a Predictor of Subsequent Assault-Related Emergency Department Visits Among Adolescents.

PURPOSE: To measure the risk of a subsequent assault-related emergency department (ED) visit in assault injured adolescents as compared to those who initially presented for non-assault related injuries. METHODS: This was a historical cohort study of youth (ages 10-18 years) seen at two pediatric EDs between 2016 and 2019. Participants were included if their visit had an International Classification of Diseases-10 code for assaultive injury or accidental injury (motor vehicle collisions (MVC) and sports injuries). We calculated the rate of a subsequent ED visit for an assault-related injury, and then used survival analysis to compare time to subsequent ED visit with an assault-related injury between study and comparison groups. RESULTS: A total of 6125 adolescents met inclusion criteria (Assault: n = 2782, 45.4%; MVC: n = 1834, 29.9%; Sports n = 1509, 24.6%). The overall rate per 100 person years of a subsequent assault-related ED visit was 5.6 (n = 344). Patients who initially presented with an assault-related injury had an increased adjusted relative risk (aRR) of return for a subsequent ED visit for an assault-related injury when compared to MVC patients (aRR 17.6 [95% CI: 9.6, 32.2]). Kaplan-Meier time to event analysis found that patients in the assault injury group have a higher probability of a subsequent ED visit for an assault-related injury compared to patients in the MVC injury group (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR): 17.7 [95% CI: 9.67, 32.42]). DISCUSSION: Adolescents injured by assault are more likely to return to the ED for a subsequent assault-related injury compared to adolescents who initially present with non-assault-related injuries.