Socioeconomic disparities based on shooting intent in pediatric firearm injury

Pediatric firearm injury is often associated with socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Most studies only include fatal injuries and do not differentiate by shooting intent. We hypothesized that differences in neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage would be observed among shooting intents of fatal and nonfatal cases.

A linked integrated database of pediatric fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries was developed from trauma center and medical examiner records in Harris County, Texas (2018-2020). Geospatial analysis was utilized to map victim residence locations, stratified by shooting intent. Area Deprivation Index (ADI), a composite measure of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage at the census tract level was linked to shooting intent. Differences in high ADI (more deprived) versus low ADI among the shooting intents were assessed. Unadjusted and adjusted regression models assessed differences in ADI scores across shooting intent, adjusted models controlled for age, gender, and race/ethnicity.

Of 324 pediatric firearm injuries, 28% were fatal; 77% were classified as interpersonal violence, 15% unintentional, and 8% self-harm. Differences were noted among shooting intent across the ADI quartiles; with increases in ADI score, the odds of interpersonal violence injuries compared with self-harm injuries significantly increased by 5%; however, when adjusting for individual-level variables of age, gender, and race and ethnicity, no significant differences in ADI were noted.

Our results suggest that children living in disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to be affected by interpersonal firearm violence compared with self-harm; however, when differences in race/ethnicity are considered, the differences attributable to neighborhood-level disadvantage disappeared. Resources should be dedicated to improving structural aspects of neighborhood disadvantage, which disproportionately impact racial/ethnic minoritized populations. Furthermore, firearm self-harm injuries occurred among children living in the less disadvantaged neighborhoods. Understanding the associations among individual and neighborhood-level factors are important for developing streamlined injury prevention interventions by shooting intent.

Prognostic and Epidemiological; Level IV.