The alarming increase in firearm injuries to children and adolescents in the United States has taken an enormous mental and behavioral health toll on victims, survivors, and their families, with ripple effects on the economy and health care spending, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) have found.
In a study published in the November Issue Health Affairs, the team cited the substantial opportunities for improvements in clinical practice for survivors of gun violence and their family members, such as improved screening for mental and behavioral health needs, as well as enhanced educational programs for the clinicians who treat them.
"Our study shines light on the substantial effects incurred not just directly by victims and survivors of gun violence, but indirectly by parents and siblings who, we found, often relinquish their own routine health care to the more acute health needs of the family," notes senior author Chana Sacks, MD, MPH, co-director of the MGH Gun Violence Prevention Center which she co-founded after her cousin's seven-year-old son was killed in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting.
Rigorous evidence of the impact this national epidemic has had on victims and their families has been limited. Most studies of firearm injury survivors, in fact, have excluded children. The team found that one year after firearm injuries, child and adolescent survivors experienced a 117 percent increase in pain disorders, a 68 percent increase in psychiatric disorders, and a 144 percent increase in substance use disorders relative to the controls.
This 17-fold increase in spending underscored how much firearm injuries radiate out from individual families to affect the broader economy and societal resources. "Health care professionals have an opportunity to be more aware of the unique needs of this ever-growing community," he points out.
Belgique Dernières Nouvelles, Belgique Actualités
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