Do Children With Accidental Gunshot-related Fractures Experience Greater Risk of Mental Illness and Psychiatric Disorders? A Propensity-matched Study.

Background: Firearm violence is the leading cause of death and is a major source of morbidity for children in the United States. While gunshot wounds (GSWs) are known to cause lasting psychological repercussions beyond physical injury, these effects are not well documented compared with the physical implications. Our study explores the association between accidental gunshot-related fractures in children and subsequent psychiatric outcomes.

Question/purpose: Relative to non-GSW-related fractures, do children sustaining an accidental GSW-related fracture experience higher risk of mental illness and psychiatric disorders?

Methods: This study utilized the TriNetX US Collaborative Network as it provides comprehensive inpatient and outpatient data, longitudinal follow-up, and complete medical records across different facilities, closely reflecting real-world patient outcomes in orthopaedic practice. We retrospectively evaluated children diagnosed with an accidental GSW-related fracture and compared mental health diagnoses to children who experienced non-GSW-related fractures. Between January 1, 2003, and March 1, 2023, a total of 5071 children in the United States without preexisting anxiety, mood, psychotic, substance use, or insomnia disorders were reported to have experienced an accidental GSW-related fracture. Among these patients, 55% (2773) had a follow-up period of at least 1 year and met the inclusion criteria for the exposure cohort. In the non-GSW-related fracture cohort, a total of 61% (985,070) of children among 1,613,891 without the preexisting aforementioned conditions had a minimum follow-up period of 1 year and met the inclusion criteria. A total of 2769 children were successfully matched in each cohort using a greedy nearest neighbor propensity score-matching algorithm. Matching was based on age, gender, race, fracture location, and BMI, as these characteristics were identified through a regression analysis as potentially associated with psychiatric outcomes (p < 0.01). The mean ± SD age was 15 ± 4 years, and 16% (451) in the GSW cohort were girls. In the non-GSW cohort 17% (474) were girls. With respect to race and ethnicity, 62% (1709 in the GSW cohort; 1679 in the non-GSW cohort) were Black and 14% (384 in the GSW cohort; 386 in the non-GSW cohort) were Hispanic. Outcomes of interest were recorded for up to 3 years after the index event.

Results: The accidental GSW-related fracture cohort experienced a greater hazard of developing anxiety disorders (HR 3.8 [95% confidence interval (CI) 3.2 to 4.6]; p < 0.001), substance use disorders (HR 3.6 [95% CI 3.0 to 4.2]; p < 0.001), mood disorders (HR 2.4 [95% CI 1.9 to 3.1]; p < 0.001), non-mood psychotic disorders (HR 2.4 [95% CI 1.5 to 3.9]; p < 0.001), and insomnia (HR 1.8 [95% CI 1.4 to 2.3]; p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Orthopaedic surgeons should implement early psychiatric screenings and integrate mental health support for children with gunshot-related fractures to address elevated risk of anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, mood disorders, substance abuse, and insomnia. Future studies should focus on identifying effective interventions that mitigate these long-term psychological outcomes, with an emphasis on practical, targeted approaches in clinical care.

Level of evidence: Level III, prognostic study.