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Research Article| Volume 45, ISSUE 8, P1207-1214, August 2014

Injuries from firearms in hunting activities

  • Randall T. Loder
    Correspondence
    Corresponding author at: Riley Children's Hospital, 705 Riley Hospital Drive, ROC 4250, Indianapolis, IN 46202, United States. Tel.: +1 317 278 0961; fax: +1 317 274 7197.
    Affiliations
    Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, James Whitcomb Riley Children's Hospital, Indianapolis, IN, United States
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  • Neil Farren
    Affiliations
    Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, James Whitcomb Riley Children's Hospital, Indianapolis, IN, United States
    Search for articles by this author

      Abstract

      Background

      Recreational hunting is a very popular sport, and frequently involves firearms. Few studies address the pattern of firearm injuries occurring with hunting and how they differ from firearm injuries not associated with hunting.

      Purpose

      A nation wide database will provide an overall perspective of the scope of the problem and types of injuries.

      Methods

      Our data were obtained from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research Firearm Injury Surveillance Study 1993–2008 (ICPSR 30543). It was statistically analyzed for demographic and injury patterns using SUDAAN 10™ software. A p < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

      Results

      There were 1,841,269 ED visits for firearm related injuries 1993–2008; 35,970 were involved in hunting (1.95%). Hunters were older than non-hunters (34.5 vs. 26.7 years, p < 0.0001). Handguns were involved in 48% of the non-hunters and 5.3% of the hunters (p < 0.0001). The injury was unintentional in 99.4% of hunters; for non-hunters 32.1% were unintentional and 60.7% assaults. The majority of the hunting injuries presented to small hospitals (65.9%) while the majority of non-hunting injuries presented to the large (27.0%) and very large (35.0%) hospitals. Hunters were nearly all Caucasian (92%). In hunters, 57% were shot compared to 77% in non-hunters. The most common diagnosis in hunters was a laceration (42%) compared to a puncture in non-hunters (41%). The head and neck accounted for nearly one-half of the injuries in hunters (47%); for non-hunters it was the head and neck (29%) and the leg/foot (24%). Mortality was 0.6% for hunters and 5.3% for non-hunters. The use of alcohol and being involved in antisocial behaviours was much higher in the non-hunters. The estimated incidence of a firearm injury associated with hunting activities was 9 per 1 million hunting days.

      Conclusion

      Hunters injured by firearms were nearly all Caucasian, older than non-hunters, did not involve handguns, presented to small hospitals, often sustained unintentional injuries and were not shot; most commonly injured in the head and neck, and had an overall mortality of 0.6%. These data can be a reference for future studies regarding hunting injuries associated with firearms.

      Keywords

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      References

      1. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau. 1991 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation; 1993.

      2. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau. 1996 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation; 1997.

      3. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau. 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation; 2002.

      4. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau. 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation; 2007.

      5. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau. 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation; 2013.

      6. United States Department of Health and Human Services. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Firearm Injury Surveillance Study, 1993–2008 [Computer file]. ICPSR 30543-v1. In version 1 ed.: Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2011-08-09; 2008.

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