On ABC News, a report by Adiba Matin and Evelyn Huang looked at new research published by the American Academy of Pediatrics showing huge increases in gun deaths and poisoning deaths from illegal and prescription drugs among children over the last decade:
“Firearm deaths and drug poisoning deaths in children have spiked in the last decade, according to a new study in the United States. The study found an increase in firearm deaths by 87% and drug poisoning deaths by 133%.
Researchers looked at data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s injury reporting system. They analyzed injuries leading to death from 2011-2021 and nonfatal injuries from 2011-2020.
Overall, they found that fatal injury rates increased from about 14 deaths per 100,000 children in 2011 to over 17 deaths per 100,000 children in 2021. Firearm injuries made up the biggest portion of those fatal injuries.
Both the increase in firearm and drug overdoses may be because children can get ahold of these dangerous items easily, says Dr. Rebecca Mannix, an author on the study and a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Boston Children’s Hospital.
‘The access issues of firearms and prescription and illicit drugs have also been a huge problem in the pediatric population,’ she says.”
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