Exposure to neighborhood gun violence is associated with increased odds of mental health related pediatric emergency department (ED) visits among children living near a shooting, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers examined the association between neighborhood gun violence and subsequent mental health-related pediatric ED use. The analysis included 128,683 ED encounters (2014-2018) for children younger than 19 living in 12 ZIP codes in Philadelphia. In the study area, 2,629 people were shot in the timeframe studied, and 54,341 children living nearby had at least one ED visit within 60 days of a shooting. Most of these children were Black (84.5%) and were insured by Medicaid (78.1%). Children residing within one-eighth of a mile of a shooting had greater odds of mental health-related ED presentations in the subsequent 14 days (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.86), 30 days (aOR ,1.49), and 60 days (aOR, 1.35), when adjusting for age, sex, race and ethnicity, median household income by ZIP code, and insurance.

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