Patterns and Trends of Gun Violence Against Women in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: To examine patterns and trends of firearm injuries in a nationally representative sample of US women. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Gun violence in the United States exceeds rates seen in most other industrialized countries. Due to the paucity of data little is known regarding demographics and temporal variations in firearm injuries among women. METHODS: Data were extracted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (2001-2017) for women 18 years and older. Number of nonfatal firearm assaults and homicide per year were extracted and crude population-based injury rates were calculated. Sub-stratification by age-group and time period were performed. RESULTS: Between 2001 and 2017, there were 88,823 nonfatal firearm assaults involving women and 29,106 firearm homicides. There were 4116 victims of nonfatal firearm assault in 2001 (3.8 per 105) and 12,959 by 2017 (10.0 per 105). Homicide rates were 1.5 per 105 in 2001 and 1.7 per 105 in 2017. Sub-stratification by age-group and time period showed that there were no significant changes in nonfatal firearm assault rates between 2001 and 2010 (P-trend = 0.132 in 18-44 yo; 0.298 in 45-64 yo). However between 2011 and 2017, nonfatal assault rates increased from 7.10 per 105 to 19.24 per 105 in 18-44 yo (P-trend = 0.013) and from 1.48 per 105 to 3.93 per 105 in 45-64 yo (P-trend = 0.003). Similar trends were seen with firearm homicide among 18-44 yo (1.91 per 105 to 2.47 per 105 in 2011-2017, P-trend = 0.022). However, the trends among 45-64 yo were not significant in both time periods. CONCLUSIONS: Female victims of gun violence are increasing and more recent years have been marked with higher rates of firearm injuries, particularly among younger women. These data suggest that improved public health strategies and policies may be beneficial in reducing gun violence against US women.

Tendências de situações de violência vivenciadas por adolescentes brasileiros: Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde do Escolar 2009, 2012 e 2015 / Trends in violent situations experienced by Brazilian adolescents: National Adolescent Student Health Survey 2009, 2012, and 2015

RESUMO: Objetivo: Apresentar as tendências encontradas nas três últimas edições da Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde do Escolar (PeNSE) sobre situações de violência vivenciadas por escolares brasileiros. Metodologia: Estudo de séries temporais com recorte para as capitais brasileiras, utilizando as bases de dados da PeNSE de 2009, 2012 e 2015. Os indicadores avaliados foram: faltar às aulas por insegurança no trajeto casa-escola ou na escola; envolvimento em briga com arma de fogo ou arma branca; e agressão por adulto da família. Foram estimadas as prevalências dos indicadores para o total dos adolescentes, por sexo, tipo de escola e capitais. As tendências das prevalências foram estimadas por meio de regressão linear, ajustadas por idade. Resultados: Identificou-se tendência de aumento das prevalências, com significância estatística, para todos os indicadores de violência selecionados no período de 2009 a 2015, nas capitais brasileiras. Discussão: Os grupos mais vulneráveis foram escolares das escolas públicas; adolescentes do sexo masculino no caso do envolvimento em brigas com arma branca ou de fogo; e adolescentes do sexo feminino no caso de agressão física por familiar. Conclusão: A PeNSE contribuiu para identificar o aumento das prevalências de violências vividas pelos adolescentes, o que alerta para a necessidade de planejamento e implementação de políticas que contribuam para a prevenção de violência, promoção da saúde e da cultura de paz.

ABSTRACT: Objective: To present trends found in the last three editions of the National Adolescent Student Health Survey (Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde do Escolar - PeNSE) on violent situations experienced by Brazilian students. Methods: Time-series study with a focus on the Brazilian state capitals, using PeNSE databases of 2009, 2012, and 2015. The indicators evaluated were: missing classes due to insecurity in the home-school route or at school; involvement in a fight with firearm or melee weapon; and physical assault by an adult of the family. We estimated the prevalence of indicators according to the total number of adolescents, gender, school type, and capital. Trends in prevalence were estimated by linear regression, adjusted for age. Results: We identified a trend in increasing prevalence, with statistical significance, for all selected violence indicators in the period from 2009 to 2015, in Brazilian state capitals. Discussion: The most vulnerable groups were public schools students; male adolescents for involvement in fights with melee weapons or firearms; and female adolescents for physical assault by family members. Conclusion: PeNSE contributed to identifying the increase in the prevalence of violence experienced by adolescents, which alerts to the need of planning and implementing policies that help to prevent violence, and promote health and a culture of peace.

Infant Deaths and Mortality from Gun Violence: Causal or Casual?

OBJECTIVE: Describe trends in non-Hispanic black infant mortality (IM) in the New York City (NYC) counties of Bronx, Kings, Queens, and Manhattan and correlations with gun-related assault mortality. METHODS: Linked Birth/Infant Death data (1999-2013) and Compressed Mortality data at ages 1 to ≥85 years (1999-2013). NYC and United States (US) Census data for income inequality and poverty. Pearson coefficients were used to describe correlations of IM with gun-related assault mortality and other causes of death. RESULTS: In NYC, the risk of non-Hispanic black IM in 2013 was 49% lower than in 1995 (rate ratio: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.43, 0.61). Yearly declines between 1999 and 2013 were significantly correlated with declines in gun-related assault mortality (correlation coefficient (r) = 0.70, p = 0.004), drug-related mortality (r = 0.59, p = 0.020), major heart disease and stroke (r = 0.85, p < 0.001), malignant neoplasms (r = 0.57, p = 0.026), diabetes mellitus (r = 0.63, p = 0.011), and pneumonia and influenza (r = 0.78, p < 0.001). There were no significant correlations of IM with chronic lower respiratory or liver disease, non-drug-related accidental deaths, and non-gun-related assault. Yearly IM (1995-2012) was inversely correlated with income share of the top 1% of the population (r = -0.66, p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: In NYC, non-Hispanic black IM declined significantly despite increasing income inequality and was strongly correlated with gun-related assault mortality and other major causes of death. These data are compatible with the hypothesis that activities related to overall population health, including those pertaining to gun-related homicide, may provide clues to reducing IM. Analytic epidemiological studies are needed to test these and other hypotheses formulated from these descriptive data.