Twenty children or teenagers are hospitalized every day on average for gun-related injuries, according to a study in February’s issue of “Pediatrics” released Monday.
USA Today highlighted some of the more salient findings from the study, in which researchers analyzed discharge data collected from 7,391 children and teens up to age 20 in 2009. Those were the most recent figures available.
The study found that in children under age 10, 75 percent of hospitalizations were due to unintentional firearms injuries.
There was also a significant racial gap in the study’s findings, as USA Today pointed out. Black children and teenagers made up 47 percent of all gun-related hospitalizations, with 54 percent of those hospitalizations resulting from assaults. The study found the overall hospitalization rate for black males was 10 times that of white males, at 44.77 per 100,000.
Read the full USA Today report on the study here.
