Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, BMJ, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 08.05.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “police” by istolethetv is licensed under CC BY 2.0Anthony L. Bui, MPH M.D. Candidate, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Matthew M. Coates, MPH Associate, Harvard Medical School, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine Ellicott C. Matthay, MPH Ph.D. Candidate, Division of Epidemiology, University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Protests after recent deaths from encounters with law enforcement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and activism over social media platforms have raised the profile of the problem of police violence. Several studies have suggested that the public health community has a duty to address these deaths as a public health problem. These studies have also pointed out that although there is a lack of officially reported statistics on police violence, other journalistic and crowd-sourced efforts such as “The Counted” from The Guardian, FatalEncounters.org, U.S. Police Shootings Database, KilledbyPolice.net, and Mapping Police Violence have relatively complete documentation of deaths from police violence. To help frame the issue as a public health problem, we calculated years of life lost (YLLs) attributed to deaths from encounters with law enforcement. YLLs are, a metric that measures premature deaths, by age, gender, and race/ethnicity. To do this, we followed established methods, subtracting the age of each death from a corresponding standard life expectancy. For example, if an individual who died at age 25 had a life expectancy of 75, their YLL would be 50.  (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Pediatrics / 07.05.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Julie Leonard MD MPH Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus, OH MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We looked at children with unintentional injuries who were hospitalized to see if there was an increase in their mental health needs. We saw an average 63% increase in mental health diagnoses and a 155% increase in medications prescribed to treat a mental illness. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, Emergency Care, Hematology / 05.05.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Wataru Takayama Tokyo Medical and Dental University Department of Emergency and Disaster Medicine Tokyo, Japan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: ABO blood type is a potential risk of various diseases and various conditions. Furthermore, ABO blood type has a profound influence on hemostasis. Hemorrhage is the leading cause of death in patients with trauma, we assessed the association between the difference in blood types and the outcomes of death. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: Blood type O was the independent risk factor for all-cause in-hospital mortality and death due to exsanguination, TBI, and other causes after adjusting for potential confounders. This is the first study to report the association between ABO blood types and mortality in patients with severe trauma. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Geriatrics, Vitamin D / 25.04.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Alex Krist, M.D., M.P.H. Dr. Krist is is a professor of family medicine and population health at Virginia Commonwealth University and active clinician and teacher at the Fairfax Family Practice residency. What is the background for these recommendation statements? What are the main findings? Response: Falls are the leading cause of injuries in adults age 65 and older and can lead to serious disability and even death. Bone fractures—which may result from a fall—can also cause serious disability and death in older adults. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force looked into the most recent evidence on the best ways to prevent falls and fractures in older adults. We found that clinicians should recommend exercise or physical therapy to help prevent falls by older adults who live at home and are at higher risk for falling. Additionally, we concluded that taking a low dose of vitamin D and calcium does not help prevent fractures due to osteoporosis, but we don’t know if taking a higher dose is effective or not, so we are calling for more research. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Pediatrics / 03.04.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Julie Mansfield, Lead author Research engineer Injury Biomechanics Research Center Ohio State College of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Parents and caregivers often understand that a rear-facing car seat will support the head, neck, and spine during frontal impacts. In frontal impacts, the child will simply be cradled and supported by the shell of the car seat as crash forces “pull” the child toward the front of the vehicle. However, caregivers often ask how a rear-facing car seat would work if the vehicle is struck from behind. In that case, crash forces might “pull” the occupant toward the rear of the vehicle. In this case, they wonder whether the head and neck of the rear-facing child would be supported. Injuries to children in rear impact crashes are fairly rare. However, we wanted to run some crash tests so we could see exactly what was happening in these scenarios. With these data, we can better explain to caregivers how rear-facing car seats work in this type of crash. We exposed four different models of rear-facing car seats to a moderate severity rear-impact crash pulse. All were installed on a recent model year vehicle seat. We used crash test dummies representing a one-year-old child and a three-year-old child. We found that the rear-facing car seats protected the crash test dummy well when exposed to a typical rear impact. The car seats supported the child throughout the crash and still did their job to keep the head, neck, and spine aligned. A lot of the crash energy was absorbed through the car seat interacting with the vehicle seat, so that reduced the amount of energy transferred into the occupant. This is important in preventing injuries. (more…)
Abuse and Neglect, Accidents & Violence, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Pediatrics, PLoS / 21.03.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Neha Bairoliya, Ph.D. Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies Cambridge, MA 02138 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: While the high prevalence of preterm births and its impact on infant mortality in the US have been widely acknowledged, recent data suggest that even full-term births in the US face substantially higher mortality risks compared to European countries with low infant mortality rates. In this paper, we use the most recent birth records in the US to more closely analyze the primary causes underlying mortality rates among full-term births. We show that infants born full-term in the US face 50%-200% higher risks of infant mortality compared to leading European countries. The two main drivers of these high relative risks are increased risk of mortality due to congenital malformations, which patients cannot really do much about other than ensuring adequate screening during pregnancy, and high risk of sudden unexpected deaths in infancy, which should largely be preventable through appropriate sleeping arrangements. While we do not have data on actual sleeping arrangements from our study, other data sources suggest that a substantial number of babies continue to sleep on their tummy; we also found a shockingly large number of babies dying from suffocation, which suggests that parents either use covers that are not safe, or let children sleep in their own beds. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews / 15.03.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Simon Chapman AO PhD FASSA Hon FFPH (UK) Emeritus Professor in the School Public Health University of Sydney MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Since major gun law reforms in 1996, Australian has seen zero mass shootings (five or more deaths, not including the perpetrator).The law reforms outlawed semi-automatic rifles, those often favored by mass killers. In the 18 years prior to the reforms, Australia experienced 13 mass shootings. The National Rifle Association and others have suggested that the 22 year absence of mass shootings may simply reflect that these events are rare and statistically unlikely to occur regardless of any policy. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Addiction, Author Interviews, JAMA / 14.03.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Laura Dwyer-Lindgren PhD Assistant Professor at IHME Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: This study in the latest in a series of studies IHME has conducted on health and disease on the county level in the United States. We analyzed data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, and other sources. Main findings include:
  • Nearly 550,000 deaths were attributed to drug use over the 35 years. Nationally, the age-standardized death date increased 238% between 1980 and 2000, and 112% between 2000 and 2014. The death rate from drug use disorders increased in every county, but some counties in Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and eastern Oklahoma has increases exceeding 5000%.
  • There were more than a quarter million deaths in the U.S. due to alcohol use; Western counties generally has higher levels than those in other parts of area of the nation, with especially high death rates in Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Alaska.
  • Neatly 1.3 million suicides were recorded, with especially high rates in Alaska, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Wyoming and one county in Maryland. While the national death rate due to suicide decreased between 1980 and 2014, there was an increase in the death rate due to suicide in most counties.
  • More than three quarters of a million deaths by homicide occurred in the US between 1980 and 2015. Nationally, the age-standardized death rate due to homicide decreased by about 35% between 1980 and 2000, and by nearly 16% between 2000 and 2014. Counties with the largest decreases were found in Virginia, Florida, Texas, California and New York. 
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Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics / 20.02.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Guoqing Hu, PhD Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics Xiangya School of Public Health Central South University Changsha, Hunan, China    On behalf of the authors MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We've known for some time that suffocation is a leading cause of death for American infants - in fact, it is the cause of over 3/4 of the injury deaths to babies under 12 months of age. We've also known that there are strategies, such as "safe sleeping", that can greatly reduce the risk of a baby suffocating to death. The surprise in our study is that the suffocation rate for infants under 12 months of age appears to be increasing in the United States over the past 15 years. More babies are dying from suffocation today than in the 1990s, and that is a significant public health concern. Think about the implications of each one of those deaths to the infant's parents and loved ones. There are few things more devastating than losing a baby to an unintentional, or "accidental" death. There are ways we can prevent unintentional suffocations, and we need to work together to inform parents and ensure babies are kept safe to reduce those deaths, especially as rates in the US appear to be increasing. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Cannabis, JAMA / 12.02.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. John A Staples, MD, FRCPC, MPH Scientist, Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences Clinical Assistant Professor University of British ColumbiaDr. John A Staples MD, FRCPC, MPH Scientist, Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences Clinical Assistant Professor University of British Columbia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Around 64 million Americans live in states that have legalized recreational marijuana. Many policymakers are trying to figure out what that means for traffic safety. On April 20th, some Americans participate in an annual "4/20" counterculture holiday that celebrates and promotes the use of cannabis. Some 4/20 events such as those in Denver and San Francisco involve thousands of participants. Much like celebrations at midnight on New Year's eve, public 4/20 events sometimes mark 4:20 p.m. by a countdown followed by synchronized mass consumption of cannabis. We thought this was a perfect natural experiment to evaluate the influence that cannabis intoxication has on the risk of motor vehicle crash. To examine this question, we analyzed 25 years of data on all fatal traffic crashes in the United States. We compared the number of drivers in crashes between 4:20 p.m. and midnight on April 20th to the number of drivers in crashes during the same time interval on control days one week earlier and one week later. We found that the risk of crash involvement was 12% higher on April 20th than on control days. In the subgroups of drivers younger than 21 years of age, the risk of crash involvement was 38% higher on April 20th than on control days. Assuming fewer than 12% of Americans celebrate 4/20, our results suggest that substance use at April 20th celebrations more than doubles the risk of fatal crash. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Emergency Care, JAMA, Social Issues / 10.02.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Molly Jarman PhD Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Brigham and Womens Hospital  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Injuries are a leading cause of death and disability in the US, and there are well documented disparities in injury incidence and outcomes. Certain populations (i.e. rural, low income, people of color) experience more injury than others, and are more likely to die following and injury. Past studies focused on individual health and socioeconomic characteristics as the primary driving force behind these disparities, along with variation in the time required to transport an injured patient to the hospital. We wondered if geographic features of an injury incident location contributed to variation in injury mortality that was not explained by differences in individual patient characteristics. In other words, we know that who you are contributes to injury mortality, and we wanted to know if it also matters where you are when an injury occurs. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Orthopedics / 16.01.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “First day of snowboarding” by kaolin fire is licensed under CC BY 2.0Dr. Brett D Owens, MD Dr. Owens is currently Team Physician for the US Lacrosse National Men’s Team, and Team Physician for Brown University Professor at Uniformed Services University and Professor at Brown University Alpert School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This study is a review of the literature on ski and snowboarding injuries. We summarize findings by our group and others on the injuries seen with these snow sports and report an overall increase in injuries as participation continues to increase. Snowboarders have a higher injury rate and there are different injury patterns with skiers experiencing more lower extremity injuries (knee) and snowboarders experiencing more upper extremity injuries (wrist, shoulder, etc.).  (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Emergency Care, ENT, JAMA / 21.12.2017

“Qtip” by Rafael Castillo is licensed under CC BY 2.0MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Eric T. Carniol, MD, MBA Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Tympanic membrane perforations (aka "popped" or "burst" ear drum) is a common complaint of patients presenting to the emergency room, primary care offices, and otolaryngologist (ENT doctors) offices. These may be caused by trauma, infections, or other causes. As well, many patients will use qtips (cotton-tipped applicators) to clean ears and remove ear wax and are unaware of the potential harms of doing so. This study was designed to examine the cause of ear drum perforations as diagnosed in emergency departments in the United States. Foreign body instrumentation of the ear (qtips, hair combs, hair pins, needles, etc) were the cause of 61.2% of perforations. Cotton tip applicators are the single leading cause of traumatic tympanic membrane perforation in all age groups except young adults (13-18) and 19-36 year olds, in which it is the second largest cause (behind water trauma). Children less than 18 years old constitute nearly 2/3 of all ear drum perforations in the emergency department. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, JAMA, Karolinski Institute, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics / 14.12.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emma Björkenstam PhD Department of Public Health Sciences Karolinska Institutet MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: My research team and I have previously shown that childhood adversity is associated with an elevated suicide risk in young adults, and this increased risk may be explained by maladaptive trajectories during adolescence. We also know that adolescent violent offending is linked with suicide, but up until now, less was known about the role of violent offending in the association between childhood adversity and later suicide. Our main finding in the current study, based on almost half a million Swedes, is that individuals with a history of childhood adversity who also engage in violent offending in late adolescence, have a substantial increased risk of suicide. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Geriatrics / 30.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: aaaTara Kelley-Baker PhD Data and Information Group Leader AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Background on LongROAD The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (AAAFTS) launched the Senior Driver Initiative in 2012 in an effort to better understand and meet the safe mobility needs of older adult drivers. A multidisciplinary research team from six institutions was formed to design and implement the Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers (LongROAD) study. The aims of the study are to better understand:
  • 1) major protective and risk factors of safe driving;
  • 2) effects of medical conditions and medications on driving behavior and safety;
  • 3) mechanisms through which older adults self-regulate their driving behaviors to cope with functional declines;
  • 4) the extent, use, and effects of new vehicle technology and aftermarket vehicle adaptations among older drivers; and
  • 5) determinants and health consequences of driving cessation during the process of aging.
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Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Radiology / 22.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “IMGP6403_qtu-no-violence” by Rae Allen is licensed under CC BY 2.0Elizabeth George, MD PGY-4 Radiology Resident Brigham and Women’s Hospital Dr. Bharti Khurana MD Clinical Fellow, Harvard Medical School and Assistant Director, Emergency Radiology Director, Emergency Musculoskeletal Radiology Program Director, Emergency Radiology Fellowship Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: According to the CDC, 1 in 3 women in the United States are victims of abuse by their intimate partner. Despite the US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations, intimate partner violence (IPV) screening is still not widely implemented and IPV remains very prevalent and often under-recognized. The goals of this study are to increase the awareness among physicians about this public health problem and to elucidate the potential role of imaging in the identification of these patients. In fact, there is a striking disparity in the literature on the role of imaging in identifying non-accidental trauma in children compared to intimate partner violence. The common patterns of injury we identified in this population were soft tissue injuries (swelling, hematoma or contusion) followed by extremity fractures, which often involve the distal upper extremities, suggesting injury from defensive attempts. Other common injuries were facial fractures, which represent an easily accessible site for inflicting trauma, and pregnancy failure. Since radiologists have access to both current and prior radiological studies of these patients, they could play a critical role by putting the pieces together in identifying victims of IPV. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, CDC, Emergency Care, JAMA, Mental Health Research / 21.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Melissa C. Mercado PhD, MSc, MA Behavioral scientist Division of Violence Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and Control CDC

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Suicide ranks as the 10th leading cause of death for all age groups combined and has been among the top 12 leading causes of death since 1975 in the U.S. In 2015, across all age groups, suicide was responsible for 44,193 deaths in the U.S., which is approximately one suicide every 12 minutes. Suicide was the second leading cause of death among U.S. youth aged 10-24 years in 2015. Self-inflicted injury is one of the strongest risk factors for suicide. This study examined trends in non-fatal self-inflicted injuries treated in hospital emergency departments (EDs) among youth aged 10 to 24 years in the United States from 2001-2015.  The overall weighted age-adjusted rate for this group increased by 5.7% annually during the 2008 to 2015 period.  Age-adjusted trends for males overall and across age groups remained stable throughout 2001-2015.  However, rates among females increased significantly, by 8.4% annually. The largest increase among females was observed among those aged 10-14 years, with an increase of 18.8% annually from 2009 to 2015. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Gender Differences / 20.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “texting and driving” by frankieleon is licensed under CC BY 2.0Ole J. Johansson Junior researcher Master’s in social psychology Institute of Transport Economics MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Many countries have bans on driving while distracted and would fine drivers for texting while driving. Furthermore, people mostly know about the dangers of not paying attention to the traffic. Still, many people do engage in distracting behaviors. Thus, in this study, I wanted to examine: a) Who are more likely to engage with distractors? b) Is there an easy way to help people avoid distractions? From these two points, we developed the study to engage with distracted driving from a psychological and scientific point of view. Specifically using the theory of planned behavior and the big five to answer point a) and implementation intentions to answer point b). (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Frailty, Geriatrics, JAMA, Osteoporosis / 07.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Andrea C. Tricco PhD, MSc Scientist and Lead of the Knowledge Synthesis Team Associate Professor Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto Associate Editor Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, BMC Medical Research Methodology, Systematic Reviews MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Falls are the leading cause of injury among older adults and account for $2 billion in direct health-care costs annually ($31 billion in costs to Medicare in the United States in 2012). We aimed to determine which types of fall-prevention programs may be effective for reducing falls in older people. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: Exercise, along with vision assessment and treatment, as well as an assessment and possible modification of a person’s living environment, reduced the risk of injurious falls by 23% compared to usual care. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews / 06.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yi Zuo Lead Biostatistician Center for Clinical Translational Epidemiology and Comparative Effectiveness Research Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology Department of Medicine Boston University School of Medicine Boston, MA 02118  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Non-fatal firearm injuries constitute approximately 70% of all firearm trauma injuries in the United States. However, patterns of severity of those injuries are poorly understood. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews / 20.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Me holding USP gun” by Nghị Trần is licensed under CC BY 2.0Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, MD, MPH, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The impact of firearm carrying on public health and public safety is a topic of considerable interest in the US.  Nonetheless, contemporary national data on some of the most fundamental questions about the scope of firearm carrying among adults in the US do not exist. We used data collected through a nationally representative survey designed by investigators at Harvard University and Northeastern University and conducted in 2015 to understand why, how frequently, or in what manner (i.e., concealed or openly) US adults carry loaded handguns on their person. We also examined the prevalence of handgun carrying among this group by the stringency of state laws regulating concealed carry permits. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, JAMA / 20.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael Siegel, MD, MPH Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences Boston University School of Public Health Boston, MA 02118 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: A central question in the debate about public policies to reduce firearm violence is whether easier access to concealed handguns increases or decreases the rate of firearm-related homicides. Previous studies on the impact of concealed carry permitting laws have yielded inconsistent results. Most of these studies were conducted more than a decade ago. This study provided a reexamination of this research question with more recent data, up to and including the year 2015. While all states allow certain persons to carry concealed handguns, there are 3 major variations in permitting policy. In 9 states, law enforcement officials have wide discretion over whether to issue concealed carry permits; these are referred to as “may issue” states because police chiefs can deny a permit if they deem the applicant to be at risk of committing violence, even if there is not a criminal history. In 29 states, there is little or no discretion; these are referred to as “shall-issue” states because permits must be issued if requisite criteria are met. In an additional 12 states, no permit is necessary to carry a concealed handgun. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Psychological Science, Social Issues / 11.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Thekla Morgenroth Preferred pronouns: They/them/their Research Fellow in Social and Organisational Psychology Psychology University of Exeter Washington Singer Laboratories, Exeter UK  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Risk-taking is often seen as an important trait that leads to economic success - for example when it comes to investing money - and career success. For example, we often hear that leaders need to be willing to take risks. Risk-taking is also strongly associated with masculinity, which leads to the idea that maybe gender differences in economic and career success can be explained by the fact that women are just too risk averse. When you look at the risk-taking literature, it appears that there is support for this idea with many studies showing that men do indeed take more risks than men. Our research questions these ideas. We show that current measures of risk-taking are biased. They focus only on stereotypical "masculine" risk taking behaviors such as betting your money on the outcome of a sporting event or going whitewater rafting, and ignore the many risks that women take, such as going horseback riding or donating a kidney to a family member. When this bias is addressed, gender differences in risk-taking disappear or even reverse. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Johns Hopkins / 04.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Faiz Gani MD Postdoctoral research fellow Department of Surgery Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, Maryland MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The current study sought to evaluate epidemiological trend in emergency department (ED) visits for firearm-related injuries in the US. In our study, we observed that 25.3 patients per 100,000 presented to the ED for a firearm-related injury. This translated to over 78,000 ED visits per year. Over time, while firearm injuries decreased from 2006-2013, an increase in the incidence of firearm-related injuries was observed in 2014. Additionally, over time injuries among older patients and those injured in an unintentional firearm injury increased. Injuries due to an assault decreased over time. The average ED and inpatient charges were $5,254 and $95,887, respectively, resulting in an overall financial burden of approximately $25 billion over the study or an annual $2.8 billion in ED and inpatients charges. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Emergency Care / 26.09.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gary Smith, MD, DrPH Director, Center for Injury Research and Policy Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus, OH MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Previous studies have documented the frequency and characteristics of stair-related injuries among children and older adults. Numerous studies have examined gait characteristics of different age groups and their relationship to falls. In addition, it is estimated that the direct medical and indirect costs of non-fatal stair-related injuries are $92 billion annually in the US. The current study investigates the epidemiological characteristics of stair-related injuries among all ages using a nationally representative sample over a multi-year period. Our study also expands upon prior research on this topic to investigate the mechanisms of stair-related injuries and examine trends. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, JAMA / 19.09.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Michael Siegel, MD, MPH Department of Community Health Sciences Boston University School of Public Health Boston, MA 02118 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Each year, more than 1,800 people in the U.S. are killed by their intimate partners. Approximately half of these homicides are committed using firearms. While federal law prohibits people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms, there is no requirement that they surrender guns already in their possession. To close this loophole, several states have enacted laws that not only prohibit gun possession by people subject to restraining orders, but which also explicitly require that they relinquish weapons that they already have. If you are unclear as to the laws of your state, then you should contact a local law firm, such as this nyc lawyer, to discuss your current circumstances. In this study, we investigated the impact of state domestic violence-related firearm laws and rates of intimate partner homicide, using data from all 50 states over a 25-year period, 1991-2015. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, BMJ / 25.08.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Vivian Mcalister, M.B., CCFP(C), FRCSC, FRCS(I), FACS Professor - Department of Surgery London Health Sciences Centre University Hospital London, Ontario, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This study was performed by medical and nursing officers who were all deployed to the war zone. We were deeply concerned about the type of injuries we were seeing. They were more awful than any we had seen before. We were familiar with reviews of antipersonnel landmine injuries that were reported by Red Cross surgeons in the 1990s. The injuries that we were dealing with were from antipersonnel IEDs more than landmines. We decided to do a formal prospective study for two reasons: first was to carefully describe the pattern of injury so we could develop new medical strategies, if possible, to help victims. The second reason was to catalogue these injuries so we could impartially and scientifically report what we were witnessing. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Sexual Health / 25.08.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anthony J. Rosellini, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences Boston University Boston, MA 02215 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Sexual assault among service members is a significant concern of the Department of Defense (DoD) and U.S. Army. Although the annual rate of sexual assault among soldiers is believed to be decreasing, there have also been increases in the number of victims coming forward to report their experiences. The DoD and Army have responded by creating a framework of universal prevention in which all soldiers are required to participate in relatively brief programs aimed at decreasing rates of sexual assault. More intensive preventive interventions could be required, but would only be cost-effective if targeted at a subset of soldiers who are most likely to perpetrate sexual assault. The goal of this study was to use DoD and U.S. Army administrative records that are available for all soldiers to develop prediction models for sexual assault perpetration. We used the records from all 821,807 male soldiers who served between 2004 and 2009 to develop separate models to predict assaults directed against within-family and non-family adults and minors. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Dermatology, JAMA, UCSF, Urology / 17.08.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Thomas W. Gaither, BS Department of Urology University of California, San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We study genitourinary trauma and reconstruction. This study was motivated from a previous study showing that Emergency Room visits due to grooming were increasing over the past nine year. We sought to better characterize who was at most risk for grooming injuries. We found that grooming is extremely common in both men and women and minor injuries occur in about 25% of groomers. Surprisingly, a little over one percent sought medical care due to their injury. Participants at most risk our those who remove all of their pubic hair frequently ( as opposed to those who just trim). We did not find any instruments that were necessarily putting participants at risk for injury. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Depression, Geriatrics, Karolinski Institute / 11.08.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Heidi Taipale, PhD Pharm Senior Researcher School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland; and Department of Clinical Neuroscience Karolinska Institutet  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Antidepressant use among older persons has been associated with an increased risk of falling and fall-related events, such as hip fractures, in previous studies. Our previous study identified risk of hip fractures in antidepressant among persons with Alzheimer’s disease. As falling is the main causal factor for head traumas and traumatic brain injuries among older persons, we hypothesized that antidepressant use could also be associated with these injuries. We utilized a nationwide cohort of 70,718 persons newly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, identified from the Finnish registers. The risk of head injuries and traumatic brain injuries was compared between persons initiating antidepressant use and comparison persons of the same age, gender and time since they received diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease but not using antidepressants. We found a 40-percent increased risk of head injuries and 30-percent increased risk of traumatic brain injuries associated with antidepressant use. Antidepressant use was associated with a higher risk of head injuries especially at the beginning of use – during the first 30 days – but the risk persisted even longer, up to two years. The association was also confirmed in a study design comparing time periods within the same person, thus eliminating selective factors. (more…)