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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Previous research has demonstrated mixed relationships between individual neighborhood socioeconomic factors and incidences of violence, such as poverty level, population density, and income inequality. We used the Childhood Opportunity Index and Area Disadvantage Index to evaluate the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and the number of incidents of violence among children across the zip codes of Los Angeles (LA) County.
METHODS: We performed a retrospective cross-sectional study of children aged <18 years from 2017-2019 who were entered in the LA County Trauma and Emergency Medicine Information System registry with violent mechanisms of injury, including gunshot, stabbing, or assault. Mechanisms classified as self-inflicted injuries were excluded from the study. The number of incidences of violent mechanism per 100,000 persons under 18 years for each zip code were calculated using population data from the US Census American Community Survey 5-Year estimates from 2019.The incidences of violence per capita under 18 years for each zip code was compared to the zip code Area Deprivation Index and Childhood Opportunity using logistic regression models.
RESULTS: There were 6,791 trauma activations in LA County over the study period, 12.8% (n = 866) of which were due to violence. The mean prevalence of pediatric violent mechanism of injury per zip code was 4 cases per 100,000 persons under 18 years. Most injuries were the result of firearms (n = 345, 60.4%) and occurred among Hispanic/Latino children (n = 362, 57.1%). There were significantly greater rates of violent injury among children from highest disadvantage (OR = 8.84) and lowest opportunity (OR 42.48) zip codes.
CONCLUSIONS: Children living in high disadvantage or low opportunity zip codes had greater rates of violent injury. Further study of neighborhood factors is needed to develop targeted, effective interventions to reduce violent injuries among children living in low opportunity areas. ORIGINAL RESEARCH, LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, Epidemiological.
Language: en |