Title: Insurance Coverage Is Associated with Mortality After Gunshot Trauma

Publication Date: March 2010

What does it say?

Researchers tested the hypothesis that lack of insurance correlates with mortality after a gunshot wound by studying adult gunshot trauma cases treated at an urban trauma center in Alameda County, California, from 1998 to 2007.

Uninsured trauma patients were more likely to die in the hospital than insured patients despite similar injury severity, patient demographics, and hospital resource use. The authors theorize that social factors such as chronic social and environmental stress may account for the difference.  Race was not correlated with higher mortality risk.

Most of the gunshot victims identified for the study were uninsured.  Of the victims that died before reaching the hospital, 93 percent were uninsured. Of the victims that were treated in the hospital, 75 percent were uninsured. 

How can I use it?

Preventing gun violence is a moral imperative but also makes economic sense. In this study, most urban gun violence victims lacked health insurance.  Caring for uninsured patients in the hospital likely drains public resources that could be better spent elsewhere.  We have not done everything we can to keep guns away from people not allowed to have them, resulting in thousands of gun injuries that could be prevented. We can help prevent gun violence by making it more difficult for dangerous people to gain access to weapons. 

Citation

Dozier, Kristopher, et al, “Insurance Coverage Is Associated with Mortality After Gunshot Trauma,” J Am Coll Surg 210(3):280-285

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