The Epidemiology of Firearm-Related Injuries Presenting at the Two Level-1 Trauma Centers in Oregon from 2009-2019

Injury is an important clinical and public health problem worldwide. Firearm-related injury is an important source of trauma-related morbidity and increases the risk of death. The CDC reports that in 2017, 74.5% of homicides deaths and 50.6% of suicide deaths were caused by firearms. The purpose of our retrospective chart review is to describe the epidemiology of firearm-related injuries presenting in the emergency department of two level-1 trauma centers in Oregon over a 10-year period. The study involves victims of gunshot injuries of all ages who were treated in the OHSU and Legacy Emanuel Emergency Department during the calendar years 2009-2019. For these patients, we will extract some data from the patient’s electronic medical record at both sites. We estimate this cohort will include approximately 2,500 patients from both sites. For data analysis, we will use STATA 16 to calculate descriptive statistics (e.g., frequencies stratifying by patient demographics and injury characteristics). We will also use graphs to illustrate epidemiological trends and other characteristics of gunshot injury. We expect that the analyses of this dataset will be used to increase the understanding of the firearm-related injury burden, describe the characteristics surrounding firearm-related incidents, and provide direction for future injury prevention interventions and prospective research studies. Firearm Injury is a pressing public health issue and our project will directly support interventional work with a public health focus. The data from this study will provide a greater understanding of the circumstances and risk factors related to firearm-related traumatic injuries in Oregon.