• J Roesler and M Ostercamp.
• Minnesota Department of Health, USA.
• Minn Med. 2000 Sep 1;83(9):57-60.

ObjectiveMinnesota hospitals began to assign E-codes (external cause of injury) to hospital discharge data in 1998. It is now possible to describe the epidemiology of medically treated firearm injury (FI) cases in Minnesota by combining hospital discharge data with injury data from other sources. This population-based investigation provides a preliminary epidemiologic description of fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries in children and adolescents in Minnesota during 1998.MethodologyPediatric firearm injury cases were identified from the Minnesota Department of Health's Minnesota Trauma Data Bank, a population-based data system for injury surveillance in Minnesota. To qualify for the study, the patients had to be Minnesota residents, younger than 20 years old at the time of injury, and injured by a firearm in 1998.ResultsThe 175 cases identified yielded on overall FI rate of 12.5/100,000, a mortality rate of 2.4/100,000, and a nonfatal to fatal ratio of 4.1:1. Eighty-five percent of patients were male; 15% female. The largest proportion of firearm injuries were assault-related (45%), followed by unintentional (34%), and self-inflicted (15%). Adolescents aged 15-19 years accounted for 79% of the injuries, and children 14 or younger, 21%, yielding rates of 37.6/100,00 and 3.5/100,000, respectively. Twenty-two percent of 15-19-year-olds and 11% of children 0 to 14 died, yielding mortality rates of 8.1/100,000 and 0.4/100,000, respectively. Where race was documented, whites represented 53% of the cases; African Americans, 32%; Native Americans, 8%; and Asian/Pacific Islanders, 7%; yielding race-specific rates of 4.1/100,000, 54.3/100,000, 30.5/100,000, and 12.1/100,000, respectively. Sixty-six percent of the patients were residents of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area and 33% were residents of Greater Minnesota, yielding rates of 16.0/100,000 and 8.6/100,000, respectively. In the Twin Cities metro area 24% of injury cases were unintentional, 5% were self-inflicted, 65% were assaultive, and 6% were undetermined. In Greater Minnesota 53% were unintentional, 33% were self-inflicted, 9% were assaultive, and 5% were undetermined.ConclusionsMinnesota's 1998 rates for firearm injury were less than half the 1997 national rate. The state's FI rates show significant disparities by race and region of residence. More FI data will have to be collected over more years to describe and identify trends and multifactor relationships. Policymakers need to ensure that firearm injury continues to be monitored and assessed in Minnesota.

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