Urban-Rural Differences in Indiana Pediatric Firearm Trauma

Background and Hypothesis: Several studies have evaluated differences in firearm injuries among children and adolescents based on population. However, many of these studies exclude patients who die before arriving at a trauma center. We therefore hypothesize that important population-based differences in pediatric firearm injuries may be uncovered with inclusion of both pre-hospital firearm mortalities and patients treated at a tertiary children’s hospital. Methods: Patients less than 15 years of age who sustained a firearms-related injury/death between the years 2012 and 2018 were identified in: (1) death certificates from the Office of Vital Statistics State of Indiana and (2) Riley Hospital for Children Trauma Registry. Counties were classified as either urban, midsized, or rural based on the National Center for Health Statistic’s population data. Bivariate analyses were used to analyze important variables with statistical significance set at p