Cargando…

Mandatory gunshot wound reporting in Nova Scotia: a pre–post-evaluation of firearm-related injury rates

OBJECTIVE: Mandatory gunshot wound reporting laws have been enacted in much of Canada, yet there is a lack of evidence on whether these laws are effective in preventing firearm injuries. Our objective was to determine if the Gunshot Wounds Reporting Act in Nova Scotia had an effect on the number of...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bennett, Nick, Erdogan, Mete, Karkada, Manolhas, Kureshi, Nelofar, Green, Robert S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8986452/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35386036
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s43678-022-00288-y
_version_ 1784682549446967296
author Bennett, Nick
Erdogan, Mete
Karkada, Manolhas
Kureshi, Nelofar
Green, Robert S.
author_facet Bennett, Nick
Erdogan, Mete
Karkada, Manolhas
Kureshi, Nelofar
Green, Robert S.
author_sort Bennett, Nick
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: Mandatory gunshot wound reporting laws have been enacted in much of Canada, yet there is a lack of evidence on whether these laws are effective in preventing firearm injuries. Our objective was to determine if the Gunshot Wounds Reporting Act in Nova Scotia had an effect on the number of firearm-related injuries in the province. METHODS: Pre–post-study of major trauma patients in Nova Scotia who sustained a gunshot wound injury before and after enactment of the Gunshot Wounds Reporting Act (Bill 10) in 2008. Data were collected from the Nova Scotia Trauma Registry and the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service for a 6-year pre-period (2002–2007) and an 11-year post-period (2009–2019), allowing for a 1-year washout period. Patient characteristics in the pre- and post-periods were compared using t tests and Chi-square analysis. Gunshot wound traumas were analyzed as a time series using the AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model. RESULTS: A total of 722 firearm injuries were observed during the study period (pre-period = 259, post-period = 463). Mean age was 45.2 ± 19.3 years with males accounting for 95.3% (688/722) of cases. The majority of injuries were self-inflicted (65.1%; 470/722). The mean overall annualized rate of firearm injuries was 4.61 per 100,000 population in the pre-period and 4.45 per 100,000 in the post-period (reduction of 3.4%). No linear trends in the annual number of firearm injuries were observed over the study period. ARIMA modelling was an extremely poor predictor for gunshot wound trauma (R(2) = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: Although our findings suggest that there is no association between the Gunshot Wounds Reporting Act and the incidence of firearm injury, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions due to the complexity of this topic. Physicians need to be aware of the legal requirements of mandatory reporting when they encounter patients with gunshot wounds. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43678-022-00288-y.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8986452
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Springer International Publishing
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-89864522022-04-07 Mandatory gunshot wound reporting in Nova Scotia: a pre–post-evaluation of firearm-related injury rates Bennett, Nick Erdogan, Mete Karkada, Manolhas Kureshi, Nelofar Green, Robert S. CJEM Brief Original Research OBJECTIVE: Mandatory gunshot wound reporting laws have been enacted in much of Canada, yet there is a lack of evidence on whether these laws are effective in preventing firearm injuries. Our objective was to determine if the Gunshot Wounds Reporting Act in Nova Scotia had an effect on the number of firearm-related injuries in the province. METHODS: Pre–post-study of major trauma patients in Nova Scotia who sustained a gunshot wound injury before and after enactment of the Gunshot Wounds Reporting Act (Bill 10) in 2008. Data were collected from the Nova Scotia Trauma Registry and the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service for a 6-year pre-period (2002–2007) and an 11-year post-period (2009–2019), allowing for a 1-year washout period. Patient characteristics in the pre- and post-periods were compared using t tests and Chi-square analysis. Gunshot wound traumas were analyzed as a time series using the AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model. RESULTS: A total of 722 firearm injuries were observed during the study period (pre-period = 259, post-period = 463). Mean age was 45.2 ± 19.3 years with males accounting for 95.3% (688/722) of cases. The majority of injuries were self-inflicted (65.1%; 470/722). The mean overall annualized rate of firearm injuries was 4.61 per 100,000 population in the pre-period and 4.45 per 100,000 in the post-period (reduction of 3.4%). No linear trends in the annual number of firearm injuries were observed over the study period. ARIMA modelling was an extremely poor predictor for gunshot wound trauma (R(2) = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: Although our findings suggest that there is no association between the Gunshot Wounds Reporting Act and the incidence of firearm injury, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions due to the complexity of this topic. Physicians need to be aware of the legal requirements of mandatory reporting when they encounter patients with gunshot wounds. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43678-022-00288-y. Springer International Publishing 2022-04-07 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC8986452/ /pubmed/35386036 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s43678-022-00288-y Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP)/ Association Canadienne de Médecine d'Urgence (ACMU) 2022 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Brief Original Research
Bennett, Nick
Erdogan, Mete
Karkada, Manolhas
Kureshi, Nelofar
Green, Robert S.
Mandatory gunshot wound reporting in Nova Scotia: a pre–post-evaluation of firearm-related injury rates
title Mandatory gunshot wound reporting in Nova Scotia: a pre–post-evaluation of firearm-related injury rates
title_full Mandatory gunshot wound reporting in Nova Scotia: a pre–post-evaluation of firearm-related injury rates
title_fullStr Mandatory gunshot wound reporting in Nova Scotia: a pre–post-evaluation of firearm-related injury rates
title_full_unstemmed Mandatory gunshot wound reporting in Nova Scotia: a pre–post-evaluation of firearm-related injury rates
title_short Mandatory gunshot wound reporting in Nova Scotia: a pre–post-evaluation of firearm-related injury rates
title_sort mandatory gunshot wound reporting in nova scotia: a pre–post-evaluation of firearm-related injury rates
topic Brief Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8986452/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35386036
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s43678-022-00288-y
work_keys_str_mv AT bennettnick mandatorygunshotwoundreportinginnovascotiaaprepostevaluationoffirearmrelatedinjuryrates
AT erdoganmete mandatorygunshotwoundreportinginnovascotiaaprepostevaluationoffirearmrelatedinjuryrates
AT karkadamanolhas mandatorygunshotwoundreportinginnovascotiaaprepostevaluationoffirearmrelatedinjuryrates
AT kureshinelofar mandatorygunshotwoundreportinginnovascotiaaprepostevaluationoffirearmrelatedinjuryrates
AT greenroberts mandatorygunshotwoundreportinginnovascotiaaprepostevaluationoffirearmrelatedinjuryrates
AT mandatorygunshotwoundreportinginnovascotiaaprepostevaluationoffirearmrelatedinjuryrates