Every day in the U.S., approximately 20 children are injured by firearms seriously enough to require hospitalization. In the February 2014 issue of the journal Pediatrics, a new study will be published on hospitalizations of children and adolescents as a result of firearm injuries, reports the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Researchers looked at children and adolescents younger than age 20 at the time of admission to the hospital in 2009.  In that year, 7,391 hospitalizations occurred in this age group because of firearm injuries, and 453 of those young patients died while in the hospital.  Most of the hospitalizations resulted from assaults, numbering 4,559.  At 270, the fewest cases were attributed to suicide attempts, but these had the highest mortality rate.

The study was headed up by Dr. John Leventhal from the Yale School of Medicine and was funded in part by child abuse programs at the Department of Pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine.  Yale News reports that, in children younger than age 10, 75 percent of the nearly 400 hospitalizations were the result of unintentional firearm use or accidental injuries.  The research team found that the most common types of firearm injuries included open wounds (52 percent), fractures (50 percent), and internal injuries of the thorax, abdomen, or pelvis (34 percent).

In their report, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC notes that homicide continues to be in the top three causes for death in youths.  This translates into an economic impact of $9 billion in medical costs and lost productivity.  Over the course of 30 years, the most common method of homicide was by firearm.  Nearly 80 percent of all youth homicides were the result of firearms.

Surprisingly, youth homicide has had a recent downward trend.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have conducted an analysis of death statistics.  In 2010, approximately 4,800 youths (aged 10 to 24) were killed.  This is a rate of 7.5 homicides for every 100,000 youths, which is a rate lower than any year since 1981.  From approximately 1984 onwards, there was a gradual increase in the death rate, and in 1993, there was a spike in violent crime that was tied to the use of crack cocaine.

The Health Resources and Services Administration studied trends in youth mortality, finding a consistent decline in infant and child mortality in the decades since 1935, with youth mortality showing only a modest decline by comparison.  Moreover, specific youth populations, namely black youths, have had little to no improvement.  UPI notes that studies like the present one shed light on the extent of the problem of firearm violence beyond high-profile shooting cases.