Presenter Profile
Sofia Chaudhary, MD, FAAP
Emory University School of Medicine
Attending Physician, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Co-Chair, Violence Prevention Task Force
Emory Injury Prevention Research Center
Co-PI, Atlanta Injury Free Chapter
sofia.s.chaudhary@emory.edu
Sofia Chaudhary is an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Attending Physician at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. She completed her pediatric residency at Emory University and her pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is currently the co-PI of the Atlanta Chapter for Injury Free Coalition for Kids, co-chair of the Violence Prevention Task Force for Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory, and Chair of the Council of Injury, Violence, Poison Prevention for the GA Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Outside of caring for children in the pediatric emergency room, her primary academic research and advocacy focus has been on pediatric injury prevention with a specific focus on firearm injuries. She has authored multiple injury prevention-related publications and spoken as an injury prevention expert at national scientific meetings. She enjoys working with trainees and mentoring them as they become injury prevention advocates. She co-founded the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Injury Prevention Program (CHIPP) and serves on the steering committee for the Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory.
Presentations
Who are the Firearm Owners in Youth Firearm Suicide?
Sofia Chaudhary, MD
Mark Zamani, MS
Christian Pulcini, MD, MEd, MPH
Elizabeth R. Alpern, MD, MSCE
Peter Ehrlich, MD, MSc
Joel Fein, MD, MPH
Monika Goyal MD, MSCE
Matthew Hall, PhD
Stephen Hargarten, MD, MPH
Rachel K. Myers, PhD, MS
Karen Sheehan, MD, MPH
Bonnie Zima, MD, MPH
Jennifer Hoffmann, MD, MS
Eric Fleegler, MD, MPH
Firearms are the most common and lethal means of suicide for youth ages 10-24 years. To inform youth suicide prevention efforts, it is crucial to understand ownership and storage patterns of these firearms. To address this knowledge gap, we describe ownership and storage patterns of firearms used in youth suicide and examine the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of decedents associated with firearm ownership by the decedent or the parent.
We conducted a retrospective cohort study of firearm suicides by youth aged 10-24 years from 2018-2021 using the CDC National Violent Death Reporting System. We included data from states that report firearm ownership for ?70% of cases (AZ, CT, DE, KS, ME, MT, NH, ND, HI). We described firearm ownership by age group (10-17, 18-24 years) and among decedents with known mental health (MH) problems. We used multivariable logistic regression to estimate the association of age group and firearm ownership by (1) the decedent and (2) the parent, adjusted for sex, race, ethnicity, rural/urban location, and clinical characteristics. Among cases with non-missing firearm storage data, we described whether firearm was locked and/or loaded by age group.
Of 1,021 youth firearm suicide decedents, most were White (82%), non-Hispanic (80%), ages 20-24 years (63%), and male (89%). Firearm ownership was missing for 23% of decedents. Of the remaining cases (n=788/1021 (77%)), firearms were most often owned by the decedent (56%) or a parent (27%). Among 10-17-year-old decedents (n=166/788 (21%)), 5% owned the firearm and 72% used a firearm owned by a parent. Among 18-24-year-olds (n=622/788 (79%)), 69% owned the firearm and 14% used a firearm owned by a parent. Of decedents with known MH problems (n=307/788 (39%)), 60% owned the firearm and 25% used a firearm owned by a parent. There were lower adjusted odds of firearm ownership by the decedent for 10-17-year-olds compared to 18-24-year-olds (aOR 0.03, 95% CI 0.02, 0.07). There were higher adjusted odds of firearm ownership by the parent for 10-17-year-olds compared to 18-24-year-olds (aOR 10.99, 95% CI 7.50, 16.10). Among decedents 10-17 years of age with known locked (n=135) and loaded (n=105) status, 60% were stored unlocked and 70% were stored loaded. Among decedents 18-24 years of age with known locked (n=327) and loaded (n=350) status, 69% were stored unlocked and 81% were stored loaded.
Approximately three-quarters of 10-17-year-old suicide decedents used a parent’s firearm, while two-thirds of 18–24-year-olds used their own. Although storage data are limited, among decedents with known firearm storage practices, most firearms were stored unlocked and loaded, regardless of age group. Suicide prevention strategies should focus on reducing access to firearms owned by youth, in addition to caregivers.
1. Learn ownership patterns of firearms used in youth suicide in the United States.
2. Understand firearm storage patterns for firearms used in youth suicide by age group.
3. Recognize the need for suicide prevention interventions that are directed towards youth in addition to their parents.