Pediatric Firearm-Related Hospital Encounters During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic.

* Abbreviations: ED — : emergency department ICD-10 — : International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision PHIS — : Pediatric Health Information System SARS-CoV-2 — : severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 In the United States, 4.6 million children live in a home with an unsecured firearm, increasing their risk for firearm-related injuries, which are the second leading cause of death in US children.1,2 In 2020, the United States witnessed an unprecedented rise in firearm sales as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic strained communities with additional psychosocial and economic stressors.3 Current literature evaluating firearm injuries and the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic includes only single-center data, adult populations, or young children, excluding pediatric suicide.4,5 We aimed to quantify pediatric firearm-related and total encounters during the initial 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic period, as compared to these periods in the previous 3 years. We used International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) discharge diagnosis codes to conduct a cross-sectional comparison of pediatric (age 0–18 years) firearm-related and total emergency department (ED) and hospital encounters between calendar weeks 9 and 36 (corresponding to approximately March to August) 2020 and 2017–2019 at 44 US children’s hospitals participating in the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database. The primary outcome was firearm-related encounters, defined as an initial encounter for a penetrating injury from a powder-charged weapon identified by … Address correspondence to Kelsey A.B. Gastineau, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Monroe Carell Jr Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, 2200 Children’s Way, Nashville, TN 37232-9452. E-mail: kelsey.gastineau{at}vumc.org