MONDAY, Nov. 25, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Firearm injury-related emergency department visit rates increased from 2018 to 2020, then decreased through 2023, according to research published in the Nov. 21 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Kristin M. Holland, Ph.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues examined mean monthly counts of firearm injury-related emergency department visits by year during 2018 to 2023 using data from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program.

The researchers identified 338,390 emergency department visits involving a firearm injury during 2018 to 2023, for an average annual rate of 81.2 per 100,000 visits. There was variation observed in the mean monthly counts of firearm injury-related emergency department visits, from 3,754.4 to 5,559.0 in 2018 and 2020, respectively. Firearm injury-related emergency department visit rates increased significantly from 2018 to 2019 and from 2019 to 2020 (visit ratios, 1.04 and 1.75, respectively). Since their peak in 2020, there was a significant decrease seen in firearm injury-related visit rates year over year (visit ratios, 0.82, 0.87, and 0.92 from 2020 to 2021, 2021 to 2022, and 2022 to 2023, respectively), but they have not returned to the 2019 mean monthly rate of 64.3 per 100,000 visits. During 2018 to 2020, visit rates increased among both females and males, then decreased yearly thereafter, with the greatest decreases seen during 2021 to 2022 among males aged 65 years and older and 25 to 34 years (−34.3 and −14.6 percent, respectively) and among females aged 65 years and older and 0 to 14 years (−24.0 and −14.1 percent, respectively).

“Although firearm injury-related emergency department visit rates decreased during 2021 to 2023, they remain high,” the authors write. “The prevalences of firearm injury and associated death suggest the need for continued monitoring and a comprehensive prevention approach.”

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