Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention
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Comparative Study
Underestimates of unintentional firearm fatalities: comparing Supplementary Homicide Report data with the National Vital Statistics System.
A growing body of evidence suggests that the nation's vital statistics system undercounts unintentional firearm deaths that are not self inflicted. This issue was examined by comparing how unintentional firearm injuries identified in police Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data were coded in the National Vital Statistics System. ⋯ Official data from the National Vital Statistics System almost certainly undercount firearm accidents when the victim is shot by another person.
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Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of hospitalized trauma during pregnancy. Maternal injury puts the fetus at great risk, yet little is known about the incidence, risks, and characteristics of pregnant women in crashes. ⋯ Pregnant occupants in crashes have similar profiles of restraint use, driver status, and seat position but different treatment indicators compared to non-pregnant occupants. Trimester status has relatively little impact on crash risk, seating position or restraint use. Undercounting of pregnant cases was possible, even so, 1% of all births were reported to be involved in utero in crashes. Little research has focused on developmental outcomes to infants and children previously involved in exposure to these crashes.
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To characterize national trends in non-fatal BB/pellet gun related injury rates for persons aged 19 years or younger in relation to trends in non-fatal and fatal firearm related injury rates and discuss these trends in light of injury prevention and violence prevention efforts. ⋯ BB/pellet gun related and firearm related injury rates show similar declines since the early 1990s. These declines coincide with a growing number of prevention efforts aimed at reducing injuries to children from unsupervised access to guns and from youth violence. Evaluations at the state and local level are needed to determine true associations.
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To determine the extent to which community violence that results in injury treated in emergency departments appears in official police records and to identify age/gender groups at particular risk of under-recording by the police. ⋯ Most assaults leading to emergency department treatment, particularly in which males were injured, were not recorded by the police. Assaults on the youngest group (0-10, particularly boys) were those least likely to be recorded by police and females over age 45, the most likely. Emergency department derived assault data provide unique perspectives of community violence and police detection.