Gun deaths to children, teens up in almost all states

Sept. 6, 2024 As news of yet another senseless school shooting makes headlines, a new report finds the number of children who lose their lives to injury and gun violence has risen in almost all states since 2018.

Rates of deaths caused by injuries overall have also risen, with firearms being the leading cause of those injuries in many states, report a team led by Eugenio Weigend Vargas . He's a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan's Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention.

According to the researchers, data released earlier this year by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that "child and adolescent [aged 1-19 years] mortality increased 18.8% from 2018 to 2022, more than twice the increase in 2013 to 2017."

Much of that rise was "driven by a 22.8% increase in injury-related deaths, particularly firearms and overdoses," Vargas' team noted.

In July, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory to the nation, calling firearm violence a "public health crisis." He pointed especially to a sharp uptick in firearm-related deaths to children.

In the new study, the Michigan team drilled down further into the CDC data. They found that 90% of states experienced an increase in child and adolescent injury deaths between 2018 and 2022.

In 2022, injuries linked to guns overtook motor vehicle deaths as the leading cause of deaths among Americans ages 1 to 19, the team found.

Firearms were the leading cause of death for kids in 25 states by 2022.

While deaths to children under the age of 10 did rise, the majority of the increase in injury-related deaths occurred among adolescents and teens ages 10 to 19.

Boys were almost twice as likely to die as girls (35.2 deaths vs 19.3 deaths per 100,000, respectively). That was especially true for gun-related deaths, with 85.6% of those victims being boys.

Only six states experienced a decline in child deaths from any cause, and in only three of those states was the decline more than 10%.

Rhode Island fared best, charting a 20% drop in such deaths between 2018 and 2022, the researchers said. Rates in Michigan, Delaware, South Dakota, Idaho and New Hampshire either remained stable or experienced slight declines.

In contrast, North Dakota and Wyoming showed the greatest increases -- about a 65% rise in deaths to kids over those four years. Vermont, North Carolina and Hawaii also saw a rise in child deaths of about 50%, 44% and 40%, respectively.

The new study was published Sept. 3 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics .

"This study shows that firearm-related deaths among children and adolescents continues to be a critical and geographically diverse issue in the United States," Vargas said in a University of Michigan news release. "These injuries are preventable and by identifying the high priority areas, we can better tailor evidence-based strategies, solutions and policies to save lives."

More information

There are safety tips on keeping children away from firearms at the American Academy of Pediatrics .

SOURCES: University of Michigan, news release, Sept. 4, 2024; JAMA Pediatrics , Sept. 3, 2024

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