Costs of Fatal and Nonfatal Firearm Injuries in the United States, 2019 and 2020

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Am J Prev Med
• Personal Author:
  Miller, Gabrielle F. ; Barnett, Sarah Beth ; Florence, Curtis ; McDavid Harrison, Kathleen ; Dahlberg, Linda ; Mercy, James A.
• Description:
  Introduction:
  
  Firearm-related injuries are among the five leading causes of death for people ages 1–44 years in the U.S. The immediate and long-term harms of firearm injuries pose an economic burden on society. Fatal and nonfatal firearm injury costs in the U.S. were estimated providing up-to-date economic burden estimates.
  
  Methods:
  
  Counts of nonfatal firearm injuries were obtained from the 2019–2020 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Emergency Department Sample. Data on nonfatal injury intent were obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System – Firearm Injury Surveillance System. Counts of deaths (firearm underlying cause) were obtained from 2019–2020 multiple cause-of-death mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System. Analyses were conducted in 2023.
  
  Results:
  
  The total nonfatal and fatal cost of firearm-related injuries for 2020 was $493.2 billion. Nonfatal firearm injuries and costs increased by 20% from 2019 to 2020. There are significant disparities in the cost of firearm deaths in 2019–2020, with non-Hispanic Black people, males, and young and middle-aged groups being most affected.
  
  Conclusions:
  
  The majority of nonfatal firearm injury-related costs are attributed to hospitalization. These findings highlight the racial/ethnic differences in fatal firearm injuries and the disproportionate cost burden to urban areas. Addressing this important public health problem can help ameliorate the costs to our society of rising rates of firearm injuries.
  
  
• Keywords:
  Cost Economic Burden Firearm Firearms Health Care Costs Humans Male Middle Aged Population Surveillance Public Health United States Wounds, Gunshot

  More +
• Source:
  Am J Prev Med. 66(2):195-204
• Pubmed ID:
  38010238
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10843794
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  66
• Issue:
  2
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:040447a030c74c0aec7e69a240176bc51d0000e1213bc1326a910da710001ae76d9f36318644ebaa77d9fc8f2dccc18dc6330e335e1ccb8ddbffb69435f5d930
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/147741/cdc_147741_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 421.39 KB ]