@article{ref1,
title="Twenty years of pediatric gunshot wounds: an urban trauma center's experience",
journal="Journal of surgical research",
year="2013",
author="Davis, James S. and Castilla, Diego M. and Schulman, Carl I. and Perez, Eduardo A. and Neville, Holly L. and Sola, Juan E.",
volume="184",
number="1",
pages="556-560",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Pediatric gunshot wounds remain an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Recent experience in the urban pediatric population has not been extensively documented. METHODS: A retrospective review of the trauma registry identified all pediatric (age 0-16 y) gunshot wound injuries between October 1991 and August 2011. We evaluated demographic, injury location, disposition, and outcome data. We applied descriptive statistics and χ(2) with significance level set to P ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: We treated 740 patients at our trauma center. Patients tended to be male (82%) and African American (72%), and most frequently were shot in the abdomen, back, or pelvic regions (26%). Patients with head or neck injuries experienced the highest mortality rate (35%), whereas the mortality rate overall was 12.7%. A total of 23% of patients were discharged directly, but 32% required an operation. We grouped data into five equal time periods, demonstrating that after decreasing through the 1990s, pediatric gunshot wounds presenting to our hospital are steadily increasing. CONCLUSIONS: We identified certain demographic and temporal trends regarding pediatric gunshot wounds, and the overall number of injuries appears to be increasing.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0022-4804",
doi="10.1016/j.jss.2012.12.047",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2012.12.047"
}