The following is a summary of “National community disparities in prehospital penetrating trauma adjusted for income, 2020–2021,” published in the March 2024 issue of Emergency Medicine by Huebinger, et al.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Black individuals experienced disproportionately heightened firearm violence and fatalities, yet there was limited understanding of community-level disparities. For a study, researchers sought to assess national community race and ethnicity disparities in rates of penetrating trauma during 2020 and 2021.

The study linked data from the 2018–2021 National Emergency Medical Services Information System databases to ZIP Code demographics. Encounters were categorized based on majority race/ethnicity communities (>50% White, Black, or Hispanic/Latino). Logistic regression was utilized to compare penetrating trauma rates in 2020 and 2021 for each community against a combined 2018–2019 historical baseline. The majority Black and majority Hispanic/Latino communities were compared to the majority White communities annually. Analyses were adjusted for household income.

A total of 87,504,097 encounters (with 259,449 penetrating traumas) were included. All communities demonstrated increased odds of trauma in 2020 compared to 2018–2019, with the largest increase observed in Black communities (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.4; 95% CI 1.3–1.4) followed by White communities (aOR 1.2; 95% CI 1.2–1.3) and Hispanic/Latino communities (aOR 1.1; 95% CI 1.1–1.2). In 2021, a similar trend of increased penetrating trauma was observed for Black (aOR 1.2; 95% CI 1.2–1.3), White (aOR 1.2; 95% CI 1.1–1.2), and Hispanic/Latino (aOR 1.1; 95% CI 1.1–1.1) communities. When comparing each year’s penetrating trauma rates to those of White communities, Black communities consistently exhibited higher odds of trauma (2018/2019 – aOR 3.0, [95% CI 3.0–3.1]; 2020 – aOR 3.3, [95% CI 3.3–3.4]; 2021 – aOR 3.3, [95% CI 3.2–3.2]). Hispanic/Latino communities also demonstrated higher trauma rates each year, albeit to a lesser extent (2018/2019 – aOR 2.0, [95% CI 2.0–2.0]; 2020 – aOR 1.8, [95% CI 1.8–1.9]; 2021 – aOR 1.9, [95% CI 1.8–1.9]).

Black communities experienced the greatest impact from increased rates of penetrating trauma in both 2020 and 2021, even after adjusting for income levels.

Reference: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0735675723006952