Analysis of Firearm Violence During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US.
JAMA Netw Open
; 5(4): e229393, 2022 04 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1813430
ABSTRACT
Importance In the US, the COVID-19 pandemic intensified some conditions that may contribute to firearm violence, and a recent surge in firearm sales during the pandemic has been reported. However, patterns of change in firearm violence in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US remain unclear. Objective:
To quantify the changes in interpersonal firearm violence associated with the pandemic across all 50 US states and the District of Columbia. Design, Setting, andParticipants:
This population-based cross-sectional study examined 50 US states and the District of Columbia from January 1, 2016, to February 28, 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic period was defined as between March 1, 2020, and February 28, 2021. Statistical analysis was performed from April to December 2021. Main Outcomes andMeasures:
A 2-stage interrupted time-series design was used to examine the excess burden of firearm-related incidents, nonfatal injuries, and deaths associated with the pandemic while accounting for long-term trends and seasonality. In the first stage, separate quasi-Poisson regression models were fit to the daily number of firearm events in each state. In the second stage, estimates were pooled using a multivariate meta-analysis.Results:
In the US (all 50 states and the District of Columbia) during the pandemic period of March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, there were 62â¯485 identified firearm-related incidents, 40â¯021 firearm-related nonfatal injuries, and 19â¯818 firearm-related deaths. The pandemic period was associated with 8138 (95% empirical confidence interval [eCI], 2769-12â¯948) excess incidents (increase of 15.0% [95% eCI, 4.6%-26.1%]), 10â¯222 (95% eCI, 8284-11â¯650) excess nonfatal injuries (increase of 34.3% [95% eCI, 26.1%-41.1%]), and 4381 (95% eCI, 2262-6264) excess deaths (increase of 28.4% [95% eCI, 12.9%-46.2%]). The increase in firearm-related violence was more pronounced from June to October 2020 and in Minnesota and New York State. Conclusions and Relevance In the US, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an excess burden of firearm-related incidents, nonfatal injuries, and deaths, with substantial temporal and spatial variations.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Wounds, Gunshot
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
/
Reviews
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
JAMA Netw Open
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Jamanetworkopen.2022.9393
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