Social Vulnerability Index is strongly associated with urban pediatric firearm violence: An analysis of five major US cities

Abstract

Disparities in pediatric firearm-related injury are associated with the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). SVI can identify social factors, structural elements, & at-risk communities to assist in designing targeted prevention efforts. #SocialVulnerability #Pediatric #FirearmInjury

Association of Community Vulnerability and State Gun Laws With Firearm Deaths in Children and Adolescents Aged 10 to 19 Years

“…Our findings on the association between community-level social vulnerability and assaultrelated firearm deaths among youths add to the growing body of literature focusing on the troubling associations between neighborhood disadvantage, lack of opportunity, and violence. 3,4,10,15,16 Previous studies have described higher numbers of firearm injury-related emergency department visits, 3,4 increased urban firearm violence, 16 and increased fatal police shootings 17 with increased community-level social vulnerability. There is likely a complex array of social phenomena that contribute to these associations.…”

A novel machine-learning tool to identify community risk for firearm violence: The Firearm Violence Vulnerability Index

“…Several studies have previously established relationships between the social and structural determinants of health and firearm homicides in children and adults, although there is significant heterogeneity among these studies regarding the population characteristics included and the geographic level of interest 19–23 . A series of recent work has attempted to rectify this by using the SVI to identify high-impact social factors and geospatial areas of focus for prevention planning across multiple US cities at the census tract level (Polcari, MD, MPH, MSGH et al, unpublished data, March 2023) 14 . Other groups have also demonstrated relationships between the ADI, COI, the Gini Index, and firearm violence using local trauma registry or county-level homicide data 24–27 .…”

“…Several studies have previously established relationships between the social and structural determinants of health and firearm homicides in children and adults, although there is significant heterogeneity March 2023). 14 Other groups have also demonstrated relationships between the ADI, COI, the Gini Index, and firearm violence using local trauma registry or county-level homicide data. [24][25][26][27] This collective of research inspired the FVVI and informed many of the population characteristics selected for our algorithm.…”

“…[11][12][13] Notably, several recent studies have used these indices to examine firearm violence, revealing that concentrated geographic areas with high community vulnerability also have high rates of shooting incidents (A.M. Polcari, MD, MPH, MSGH, unpublished data, March 2023). 14 This work implies that certain population characteristics could assist in determining where prevention efforts should be focused even without accessible shooting incident data and that standardization of risk in firearm violence research is possible. Although recently extrapolated to firearm-related injury, these indices were ultimately constructed for other purposes: SVI was made to mitigate loss after natural disasters, ADI was created to understand health care-related outcomes, and COI was established to show inequity in childhood development.…”

“…Examples include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), the Neighborhood Atlas Area Deprivation Index (ADI), and the Childhood Opportunity Index (COI) from diversitydatakids.org 11–13 . Notably, several recent studies have used these indices to examine firearm violence, revealing that concentrated geographic areas with high community vulnerability also have high rates of shooting incidents (A.M. Polcari, MD, MPH, MSGH, unpublished data, March 2023) 14 . This work implies that certain population characteristics could assist in determining where prevention efforts should be focused even without accessible shooting incident data and that standardization of risk in firearm violence research is possible.…”