Trauma Audit and Research Network, University of Manchester, Clinical Sciences Building, Salford Royal Hospital, Eccles Old Road, Salford M6 8HD, United Kingdom.
Injury. 2011 May;42(5):488-91. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2010.09.041.
In 1997, Injury published one of the first research papers to document the incidence and characteristics of civilian gunshot wounds in a UK urban environment. Since then there has been concern that firearm deaths and injuries have increased despite little published clinical evidence.
We carried out a retrospective survey ten years on from the initial study. All patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) of King's College Hospital with gunshot wounds from 1st January 2003 to 31st December 2004 were identified. Information regarding incidence, patient and injury characteristics and outcome was determined.
46 patients presented with firearm injuries. 44 were male and the average age was 24 years. The majority were from minority ethnic groups. 38/46 presented out of hours and the police were documented to be involved in 36 cases. All injuries were due to assault by low energy projectiles. Of the 32 patients admitted the mean length of stay was 12.4 days. The majority of injuries were to the musculo-skeletal system. Six patients died from their injuries–5 from head/neck or chest injuries and 1 from intra-abdominal injury.
There appears to be little increase in firearm injuries seen over this 10 year period at our hospital and predominately young, black males continue to be the victims. Most present out of hours,potentially placing considerable challenges on junior medical staff. Most wounds were to the musculoskeletal system perhaps reflecting the desire to maim rather than kill and the absence of high velocity injuries may reflect the UK's stringent gun control legislation. The importance of high quality clinical audit is necessary to effectively plan training, service provision and violence prevention efforts.
Despite public, political and media concerns that deaths and injuries caused by firearm shave increased dramatically, this study finds little change in incidence or characteristics of those injured and attending an urban ED over a ten year period.
1997 年，《损伤》杂志发表了第一篇记录英国城市环境中平民枪伤发生率和特征的研究论文之一。此后，尽管临床证据很少，但人们一直担心枪支死亡和伤害有所增加。
我们在最初研究的十年后进行了回顾性调查。从 2003 年 1 月 1 日至 2004 年 12 月 31 日，我们确定了所有因枪伤到国王学院医院急诊科就诊的患者。确定了发病率、患者和损伤特征以及结果的信息。
46 例患者因枪伤就诊。44 例为男性，平均年龄为 24 岁。大多数来自少数民族群体。46 例中有 38 例在非工作时间就诊，有 36 例记录到警察参与。所有损伤均由低能量弹丸造成的意外伤害引起。32 例住院患者的平均住院时间为 12.4 天。大多数损伤发生在肌肉骨骼系统。6 名患者因受伤死亡-5 例死于头部/颈部或胸部受伤，1 例死于腹部受伤。
在我们医院，这 10 年来枪击伤的数量似乎没有增加，主要是年轻的黑人男性仍然是受害者。大多数在非工作时间就诊，可能对初级医务人员构成巨大挑战。大多数伤口位于肌肉骨骼系统，这可能反映了致残而不是杀人的意图，而且缺乏高速伤可能反映了英国严格的枪支管制立法。高质量的临床审核对于有效规划培训、服务提供和预防暴力工作非常重要。
尽管公众、政治和媒体都担心枪支造成的死亡和伤害急剧增加，但这项研究发现，在十年期间，城市急诊室就诊的受伤者的发病率或特征几乎没有变化。
