Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan 10;7(1):e000801.
doi: 10.1136/tsaco-2021-000801. eCollection 2022.

Examining trends in gun violence injuries before and during the COVID-19 pandemic across six trauma centers

Constance McGraw  1 , Stephanie Jarvis  1 , Matthew Carrick  2 , Mark Lieser  3 , Robert M Madayag  4 , Gina M Berg  5 , Kaysie L Banton  6 , David Hamilton  7 , David Bar-Or  1
Affiliations

Examining trends in gun violence injuries before and during the COVID-19 pandemic across six trauma centers

Constance McGraw et al. Trauma Surg Acute Care Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: The onset of the national stay-at-home orders accompanied by a surge in firearm sales has elevated the concerns of clinicians and public health authorities. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the stay-at-home orders among gunshot wound (GSW) trauma admissions.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study at six level I trauma centers across four states. Patients admitted after the onset of COVID-19 restrictions (March 16, 2020-June 30, 2020) were compared with those admitted during the same period in 2019. We compared (1) rate of patients with GSW and (2) characteristics of patients with GSW, by period using Χ2 tests or Fisher's exact tests, as appropriate.

Results: There were 6996 trauma admissions across the study period; 3707 (53%) in 2019 and 3289 (47%) in 2020. From 2019 to 2020, there was a significant increase in GSW admissions (4% vs. 6%, p=0.001); 4 weeks specifically had significant increases (March 16-March 23: 4%, April 1-April 8: 5%, April 9-April 16: 6%, and May 11-May 18: 5%). Of the 334 GSWs, there were significant increases in patients with mental illness (5% vs. 11%, p=0.03), alcohol use disorder (2% vs. 10%, p=0.003), substance use disorder (11% vs. 25%, p=0.001), and a significant decrease in mortality (14% vs. 7%, p=0.03) in 2020. No other significant differences between time periods were identified.

Conclusion: Our data suggest that trauma centers admitted significantly more patients with GSW following the national guidelines, including an increase in those with mental illness and substance use-related disorders. This could be attributable to the stay-at-home orders.

Level of evidence: Level III, retrospective study.

Keywords: COVID-19; firearms; gunshot; wounds.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The total GSW admissions by week during period 1 and period 2 with specific national events marked by letters: (A) March 16, 2020: White House recommends national stay-at-home orders; (B) April 21, 2020: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director warns of second wave of COVID-19; (C) May 28, 2020: the Minneapolis Police Station burns down following George Floyd’s death; (D) June 1, 2020: Lafayette Square, Washington DC BLM protests begin. Asterisks indicate significant differences in GSW admissions weeks from period 1 to period 2. BLM, Black Lives Matter; GSW, gunshot wound.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The total firearm sales by week during period 1 and period 2 with specific national events marked by letters: (A) March 16, 2020: White House recommends national stay-at-home orders; (B) April 21, 2020: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director warns of second wave of COVID-19; (C) May 28, 2020: the Minneapolis Police Station burns down following George Floyd’s death; (D) June 1, 2020: Lafayette Square, Washington DC BLM protests begin. Asterisks indicate significant differences in daily firearm sales by weeks from period 1 to period 2. BLM, Black Lives Matter.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Strochlic N, Champine R. How some cities “flattened the curve” during the 1918 flu pandemic. National Geographic, 2020.
    1. McGraw C, Salottolo K, Carrick M, Lieser M, Madayag R, Berg G, Banton K, Hamilton D, Bar-Or D. Patterns of alcohol and drug utilization in trauma patients during the COVID-19 pandemic at six trauma centers. Inj Epidemiol 2021;8:24. 10.1186/s40621-021-00322-0 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rolland B, Haesebaert F, Zante E, Benyamina A, Haesebaert J, Franck N. Correction: global changes and factors of increase in Caloric/Salty food intake, screen use, and substance use during the early COVID-19 containment phase in the general population in France: survey study. JMIR Public Health Surveill 2021;7:e31906–9. 10.2196/31906 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ettman CK, Abdalla SM, Cohen GH, Sampson L, Vivier PM, Galea S. Prevalence of depression symptoms in US adults before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA Network Open 2020;3:e2019686. 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19686 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Salottolo K, Caiafa R, Mueller J, Tanner A, Carrick MM, Lieser M, Berg G, Bar-Or D. Multicenter study of US trauma centers examining the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on injury causes, diagnoses and procedures. Trauma Surg Acute Care Open 2021;6:e000655. 10.1136/tsaco-2020-000655 - DOI - PMC - PubMed