Gunshot wound setbacks
Readmissions account for $86 million of the $911 million spent yearly on gun-injury hospitalizations, according to analysis by Stanford researchers.
About 15.5% of hospitalized gunshot victims who survive are readmitted within six months, a study of data from 2010 through 2015 showed.
Using data from the Nationwide Readmissions Database, researchers calculated hospital costs for treating firearms injuries at about $911 million a year. Readmissions account for $86 million — or 9.5% — of that.
Lead study author Sarabeth Spitzer, a fourth-year Stanford medical student, said gun injuries are often discussed in terms of mortality, but the long-term effects of injuries on survivors tend to be forgotten.
Thomas Weiser, MD, associate professor of surgery, was the senior author of the study, published in PLOS ONE.