Tan Heidi, Shipley Jonathan, Park Flora S, Donnelly Megan R, Kong Allen P, Barrios Cristobal, Grigorian Areg, Nahmias Jeffry
Division of Trauma, Burns, Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, USA.
Am Surg. 2024 Mar;90(3):345-349. doi: 10.1177/00031348231200672. Epub 2023 Sep 5.
Rates of firearm violence (FV) surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is a paucity of data regarding older adults (OAs) (≥65 years old). This study aimed to evaluate patterns of FV against OAs before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, hypothesizing decreased firearm incidents, injuries, and deaths for OAs due to restricted social movement.
Retrospective (2016-2021) data for OAs were obtained from the Gun Violence Archive. The rate of FV was weighted per 10,000 OAs using annual population data from the United States Census Bureau. Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to compare annual firearm incidence rates, number of OAs killed, and number of OAs injured from 2016-2020 to 2021.
From 944 OA-involved shootings, 842 died in 2021. The median total firearm incidents per month per 10,000 OAs decreased in 2021 vs 2016 (.65 vs .38, < .001), 2017 (.63 vs .38, < .001), 2018 (.61 vs .38, < .001), 2019 (.39 vs .38, = .003), and 2020 (.43 vs .38, = .012). However, there was an increased median number of OAs killed in 2021 vs 2020 (.38 vs .38, = .009), but no difference from 2016-2019 vs 2021 (all > .05). The median number of firearm injuries decreased from 2017 to 2021 (.21 vs .19, = .001) and 2020 to 2021 (.19 vs .19 < .001).
Firearm incidents involving OAs decreased in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic years; however, there was a slight increase in deaths compared to 2020. This may reflect increased social isolation; however, future research is needed to understand why this occurred.
在新冠疫情期间，枪支暴力发生率激增。然而，关于老年人（≥65岁）的数据却很匮乏。本研究旨在评估新冠疫情前后针对老年人的枪支暴力模式，假设由于社会活动受限，老年人的涉枪事件、伤害和死亡数量会减少。
从枪支暴力档案库获取老年人的回顾性（2016 - 2021年）数据。使用美国人口普查局的年度人口数据，以每10000名老年人为单位对枪支暴力发生率进行加权。进行曼 - 惠特尼U检验，以比较2016 - 2020年与2021年的年度涉枪发生率、老年人死亡数量和受伤数量。
在944起涉及老年人的枪击事件中，2021年有842人死亡。与2016年（.65对.38，< .001）、2017年（.63对.38，< .001）、2018年（.61对.38，< .001）、2019年（.39对.38，= .003）和2020年（.43对.38，= .012）相比，2021年每10000名老年人每月的涉枪事件中位数有所下降。然而，与2020年相比，2021年老年人死亡中位数有所增加（.38对.38，= .009），但与2016 - 2019年相比，2021年无差异（均> .05）。涉枪受伤中位数从2017年到2021年有所下降（.21对.19，= .001），从2020年到2021年也有所下降（.19对.19，< .001）。
与疫情前几年相比，2021年涉及老年人的涉枪事件有所减少；然而，与2020年相比，死亡人数略有增加。这可能反映了社会隔离的加剧；然而，需要未来的研究来了解为何会出现这种情况。
