Journal article
The Rurality of Lower Extremity Firearm Injuries
The Iowa orthopaedic journal, Vol.42(1), pp.97-101
06/01/2022
PMCID: PMC9210435
PMID: 35821948
Appears in Diamond Open Access
Abstract
BackgroundTo highlight the unique spectrum of lower extremity firearm injuries seen at a rural, Midwestern level 1 trauma center to provide insight into prevalence, mechanism of injury, and identify modifiable factors that contribute to firearm injuries of the lower extremity. It is our belief that the creation of our database will help future trauma and firearm databases improve documentation and understand the relationship between anatomic location of injury and outcomes. MethodsA retrospective review of lower extremity firearm injuries from a rural, Midwestern level 1 trauma center was collected from January 2011 to December 2019. Data acquired included injury description; demographics, injury mechanism/ description/ location, firearm used, toxicology, and information regarding hospitalization. Data was analyzed using Chi-squared analysis and Fisher's exact test for categorical data and the Wilcoxon rank sum test for continuous data. Results69 patients with lower extremity firearm injuries were identified. Average age was 30.14 years, 89.86% were males, and one fatality were identified. 47.83% (33) of these injuries were assaults, followed by unintentional injuries at 42.03% (29). Law enforcement-related and self-inflicted injuries contributed minimally. Handguns were the most common type of firearm, used in 72.5% of cases. Nearly 1/3 of the unintentional firearm injuries occurred during November or December, the active deer hunting months in the community of study. ConclusionThe lower extremity is uniquely vulnerable to both assaults and unintentional injury in our rural environment, differing from what we have previously published regarding the upper extremity. Lower extremity gunshot wounds increased during the winter months, offering a correlation to deer hunting season. Our findings display that not all firearm injuries are created equal, and that there is a need to improve documentation of and additional study in order to optimally tailor firearm prevention measures based on the ruralityurbanicity spectrum. Level of Evidence: III.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Rurality of Lower Extremity Firearm Injuries
- Creators
- Matthew D McIlrathKirk WelshIgnacio Garcia FleuryQiang AnJoseph A Buckwalter
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The Iowa orthopaedic journal, Vol.42(1), pp.97-101
- PMID
- 35821948
- PMCID
- PMC9210435
- NLM abbreviation
- Iowa Orthop J
- ISSN
- 1541-5457
- eISSN
- 1555-1377
- Publisher
- Dept. of Orthopaedics, The University of Iowa; United States
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 06/01/2022
- Academic Unit
- Orthopedics and Rehabilitation; Injury Prevention Research Center
- Record Identifier
- 9984304712302771
Metrics
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