A 10-Year Review of Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Firearm Injury in a Rural Setting

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Injury Prevention
• Geospatial Analysis

Background:

• West Virginia faces high firearm mortality rates, particularly in rural areas.
• Previous research linked urban firearm injuries to social determinants; rural data is scarce.
• Rural populations are disproportionately affected by unintentional firearm injuries and suicides.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify geographic hotspots of firearm injuries in rural West Virginia.
• To examine the association between these hotspots and modifiable social determinants.
• To inform targeted injury prevention strategies in underserved areas.

Main Methods:

• A 10-year retrospective review of firearm injuries at a rural West Virginia trauma center (2010-2019).
• Utilized the AIS World Geocoding Service to map injury "hot spots."
• Analyzed associations between injury locations and socioeconomic variables.

Main Results:

• Identified distinct geographic "hot spots" of firearm injuries in rural and frontier West Virginia.
• These hotspots correlated with higher crime rates, unemployment, lower income, and lower education levels.
• Both intentional and unintentional firearm injury populations exhibited these geographic patterns.

Conclusions:

• Emerging firearm injury hotspots in rural areas are tied to social determinants of health.
• These findings indicate specific geographic areas ripe for targeted prevention efforts.
• Further prospective research is recommended to validate and expand upon these insights.