%0 Journal Article
%T Firearm violence involving adults 65 and older during the novel coronavirus disease pandemic
%J American surgeon
%D 2023
%A Shipley, Jonathan
%A Tan, Heidi
%A Park, Flora S.
%A Donnelly, Megan R.
%A Kong, Allen P.
%A Barrios, Cristobal
%A Grigorian, Areg
%A Nahmias, Jeffry
%V ePub
%N ePub
%P ePub-ePub
%X BACKGROUND: 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. <br><br>METHODS: 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. <br><br>RESULTS: 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, P <.001), 2017 (.63 vs.38, P <.001), 2018 (.61 vs.38, P <.001), 2019 (.39 vs.38, P =.003), and 2020 (.43 vs.38, P =.012). However, there was an increased median number of OAs killed in 2021 vs 2020 (.38 vs.38, P =.009), but no difference from 2016-2019 vs 2021 (all P >.05). The median number of firearm injuries decreased from 2017 to 2021 (.21 vs.19, P =.001) and 2020 to 2021 (.19 vs.19 P <.001). <br><br>DISCUSSION: 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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Southeastern Surgical Congress
%@ 0003-1348
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00031348231200672