Firearm injury: pushing forward.

Abstract

Purpose of review: Recognition of firearm injury as a public health challenge increasingly garners mainstream acceptance, accompanied by increased federal funding for firearm research and federal coordination for firearm injury prevention and response. This review summarizes recent developments relevant to firearm injury epidemiology, prevention, and outcomes.

Recent findings: Interpersonal firearm violence reached a 30-year peak during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the last 2 years have indicated some improvement. Here, we offer updates regarding firearm injury epidemiology, including disparities according to race, ethnicity, age, sex, and geography. This review summarizes recent literature on risk and protective factors for firearm injury, including aspects related to existing or emerging public policy. New data on the long-term costs and outcomes of firearm injury show pervasive effects, while studies on violence intervention programming, mental health interventions, and coordinated care for survivors of injury offer the potential to improve patient recovery. Lastly, enhanced firearm data infrastructure may yield higher quality research and enable more effective prevention and recovery interventions.

Summary: Recent findings underscore the multifactorial contributors to the far-reaching public health challenge of firearm injury. Clinicians, researchers, and policy makers must appreciate both the acute and long-term broad consequences of this epidemic to develop, deploy, and evaluate effective interventions to reduce firearm injury harm.