Association of Neighborhood Gun Violence With Mental Health-Related Pediatric Emergency Department Utilization.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Many children and adolescents in the United States are exposed to neighborhood gun violence. Associations between violence exposure and children's short-term mental health are not well understood.

Objective

To examine the association between neighborhood gun violence and subsequent mental health-related pediatric emergency department (ED) utilization.

Design, setting, and participants

This location-based cross-sectional study included 128 683 ED encounters for children aged 0 to 19 years living in 12 zip codes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who presented to an urban academic pediatric ED from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2018. Children were included if they (1) had 1 or more ED visits in the 60 days before or after a neighborhood shooting and (2) lived

SUBMITTER: Vasan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8453357 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature