Geospatial access to care system helps reduce mortality in gunshot injury cases: JAMA

The key findings of this study:

1. 10 105 people in Philadelphia were shot as a result of interpersonal violence throughout the research period.

2. The projected transit time ranged from 5.6 minutes in the median.

3. Each additional minute of anticipated ground travel time was linked to a higher chance of death after risk adjustment.

4. According to a calculation of the population attributable fraction utilizing mortality rate ratios for incremental 1-minute increments in projected ground transit time, 455 deaths during the research period, or 23% of gunshot fatalities, might be linked to disparities in access to care.

In conclusion, each extra minute of anticipated ground travel time to the nearest trauma center was linked to a higher fatality rate in this retrospective cohort analysis of people shot in an advanced urban trauma system. As a result of disparities in access to care, this connection was predicted to be responsible for 23% of fatalities. These findings suggest that geographic access to care may be a crucial trauma system indicator and that changes to it may lower the number of gun violence-related fatalities in US communities.

Reference: 

Byrne, J. P., Kaufman, E., Scantling, D., Tam, V., Martin, N., Raza, S., Cannon, J. W., Schwab, C. W., Reilly, P. M., & Seamon, M. J. (2022). Association Between Geospatial Access to Care and Firearm Injury Mortality in Philadelphia. In JAMA Surgery. American Medical Association (AMA).https://doi.org/10.1001/jamasurg.2022.3677