Goyal Archives

Stricter state firearms laws can save children’s lives

May 24, 2018

In a new study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2018 annual meeting, Children’s researchers find that states with stricter firearm laws have lower rates of firearm-related deaths in children. The same cross-sectional analyses also found that states with laws that mandate universal background checks prior to firearm and ammunition purchases were associated with lower rates of firearm-related mortality in children, compared with states that lack these laws.

“Injuries due to firearms are the nation’s third-leading cause of pediatric death,” says Monika Goyal, M.D., M.S.C.E., director of research in the Division of Emergency Medicine and Trauma Services at Children’s National Health System and lead author of the research paper. “Firearm legislation at the state level varies significantly. Our findings underscore the need for further investigation of which types of state-level firearm legislation most strongly correlate with reduction in pediatric injuries and deaths.”

The research team analyzed data from the 2015 Web-based injury statistics query and reporting system maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to measure the association between Brady Gun Law Scores – a scorecard that evaluates how strict firearms legislation and policies are in all 50 states – and state-based rates of firearm-related death among children aged 21 years and younger.

In 2015, 4,528 children died from firearm-related injuries. Eighty-seven percent were male; 44 percent were non-Latino black; their mean age was 18.

State-specific firearm-related mortality rates among children were as low as 0 per 100,000 to as high as 18 per 100,000. Median mortality rates were lower among the 12 states requiring universal background checks for firearm purchase at 3.8 per 100,000 children compared with 5.7 per 100,000 children in states that did not require background checks. Similarly, the five states with this requirement had a lower median mortality rate, 2.3 per 100,000 children, when compared with states that did not require background checks for ammunition purchase, 5.6 per 100,000 children.

“Newtown. Orlando. Las Vegas. Parkland. Those are among the mass shootings that have occurred across the nation in recent years. While these tragedies often are covered heavily by the news media, they represent a subset of overall pediatric injuries and deaths due to firearms. Pediatric firearm-related injuries are a critical public health issue across the U.S.,” Dr. Goyal adds.

“Pediatricians have helped to educate parents about other public health concerns, such as the danger posed by second-hand exposure to tobacco smoke or non-use of seat belts and car seats. In addition to presenting our most recent study results, members of our research group also hosted a workshop at PAS aimed at inspiring pediatric clinicians to similarly tackle this latest public health challenge and to advocate for firearm safety,” she says.

In addition to Dr. Goyal, study co-authors include Gia Badolato; Shilpa Patel, M.D.; Sabah Iqbal; Katie Donnelly, M.D.; and Kavita Parikh, M.D., M.S.H.S.

Monika Goyal M.D., M.S.C.E., consultant on $5M NIH grant to reduce pediatric firearm injuries

April 18, 2018

Monika Goyal M.D., M.S.C.E., director of research in Children’s Division of Emergency Medicine and Trauma Services, has been named a consultant on a new $5 million National Institutes of Health research grant that represents the agency’s largest funding commitment in more than two decades to reduce pediatric firearm injuries.

“I am honored that Children’s National Health System is among the 12 universities and health systems around the nation selected to work collaboratively to identify solutions to lower pediatric deaths and injuries due to firearms,” Dr. Goyal says. “This grant will expand the nation’s research capacity on this important subject area and will power the next wave of research to inform policy at the state and national level.”

Dr. Goyal is a member of Children’s firearms research work group which has published or presented at academic meetings on topics that include efforts to reduce pediatric firearm-related injuries and the pivotal role pediatricians can play in reducing the burden of firearm-related injuries among children.

Faculty from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago/Northwestern University, Arizona State University, Brown University, Children’s National Health System, Columbia University, Harvard University, Medical College of Wisconsin, Michigan State University, University of Colorado, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania and University of Washington make up the Firearm-Safety Among Children & Teens Consortium (FACTS). The initiative is co-led by Rebecca Cunningham, M.D., and Marc Zimmerman, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan.

In addition to tapping the expertise of scientists and researchers who specialize in criminal justice, emergency medicine, pediatrics, psychology, public health and trauma surgery, FACTS will include a stakeholder group that includes teachers, parent groups, gun owners, firearm safety trainers and law enforcement partners.

The five-year grant will produce a number of deliverables, including:

A research agenda for the field of pediatric firearm injury
Generating preliminary data through five small pilot projects that focus on topics such as the epidemiology of pediatric firearm injuries and prevention of firearm injuries
A data archive on childhood firearm injury
Training for the next generation of researchers, including postdoctoral trainees and graduate students

Financial support for this research was provided by the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development under award number R24HD087149.

Better PID management for adolescents in the ED

October 16, 2017

Since adolescents account for half of all new sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnoses, increasing screening rates for STIs in the emergency department could have a tremendous impact.

Emergency departments at U.S. children’s hospitals had low rates of complying with recommended HIV and syphilis screening for at-risk adolescents, though larger hospitals were more likely to provide such evidence-based care, according to a study led by Monika Goyal, M.D., M.S.C.E., director of research in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Children’s National Health System.

Presented during the 2017 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) national conference, the study also found low compliance with CDC recommendations for antibiotic treatment of adolescents diagnosed with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), a complication of undiagnosed or undertreated sexually transmitted infection that can signal heightened risk for syphilis or HIV.

“Adolescents account for half of all new sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and often view the emergency department (ED) as the primary place to receive health care. If we are able to increase screening rates for sexually transmitted infections in the ED setting, we could have a tremendous impact on the STI epidemic,” Dr. Goyal says.

Although gonorrhea and chlamydia are implicated in most cases of PID, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that all women diagnosed with PID be screened for HIV and also recommends syphilis screening for all people at high risk for infection. The research team conducted a cross-sectional study using a database that captures details from 48 children’s hospitals to determine how often the CDC’s recommendations are carried out within the nation’s EDs.

The research team combed through records from 2010 to 2015 to identify all ED visits by adolescent women younger than 21 and found 10,698 PID diagnoses. The girls’ mean age was 16.7. Nearly 54 percent were non-Latino black, and 37.8 percent ultimately were hospitalized.

“It is encouraging that testing for other sexually transmitted infections, such as gonorrhea and chlamydia, occurred for more than 80 percent of patients diagnosed with PID. Unfortunately, just 27.7 percent of these young women underwent syphilis screening, and only 22 percent were screened for HIV,” Dr. Goyal says.

Pediatric ED visits and regional firearm laws

October 11, 2017

A Children’s research team led by Monika Goyal, M.D., M.S.C.E., found that the Northeast region had the most restrictive firearm laws and the lowest overall burden of firearm-related pediatric emergency department visits.

Pediatric emergency department (ED) visits for gun-related injuries were lower in regions with stronger firearm legislation, according to a five-year study led by Children’s National Health System.

Presenting the findings during the 2017 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) national conference, the Children’s research team found that the Northeast region had the most restrictive gun laws and the lowest overall burden of firearm-related pediatric ED visits. Firearm-related pediatric ED visits were significantly higher in the West, South and Midwest, according to the study.

“Firearm-related injuries are a leading cause of injury and death among children and represent a significant public health concern,” says Monika Goyal, M.D., M.S.C.E., director of research in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Children’s National and senior study author. “This study provides compelling data that an evidence-based approach to public policy may help to reduce firearm-related injuries among children.”

The research team extracted data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, the nation’s largest such database, and included ED visits from 2009 to 2013 by patients younger than 21. The team excluded emergency visits due to air, pellet, BB or paintball guns because they are not governed by firearm legislation. They used state-level Brady gun law scores to calculate median regional scores as measures of firearm legislation strictness.

During the five years covered by the study, there were 111,839 ED visits for pediatric firearm-related injuries, or 22,368 per year. The mean age of patients with firearm-related injuries was 18 years old. The majority were male. Across all age groups, 62.8 percent of firearm-related ED visits were because of accidental injuries, a statistic that rose to 81.4 percent for children aged 6 to 10. Six percent of patients died from their injuries, and 29.8 percent of injuries were serious enough to prompt hospital admission.

When compared with the low rates of firearm-related ED visits in the Northeast, the odds of children visiting EDs for firearm-related injuries were significantly higher in other U.S. regions, including the West (2.5), the South (1.9) and the Midwest (1.8).

“Regions with higher Brady scores – and, by extension stricter gun laws – had lower rates of ED visits by children and youth,” Dr. Goyal adds. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to characterize the relationship between children’s firearm-related injuries and the rigor of regional firearm legislation.”

The authors note that unlike adults, most children rushed to the Emergency Department overwhelmingly suffered from accidental firearm injuries. This fact underscores the importance of robust research that focuses specifically on children.

“Despite the importance of this topic, there has been a paucity of published research about firearm-related injuries and how they may be prevented. Most existing data have focused on adults; these findings cannot necessarily be extrapolated to children,” Dr. Goyal says.

White children more likely to receive unnecessary antibiotics in ED

September 7, 2017

Although antibiotics can turn the tide for a variety of illnesses, they are ineffective against those caused by viruses. Despite this well-known fact, doctors often prescribe antibiotics for viral illnesses.

Infections now considered relatively easy to treat, including some forms of diarrhea and pneumonia, were the leading cause of death throughout the developed world until the 20^th century. Then, scientists developed what eventually turned into a miracle cure: Antibiotics that could kill or thwart the growth of a broad array of bacterial species.

Although antibiotics can turn the tide for a variety of illnesses, they are ineffective against those caused by viruses. Despite this well-known fact, doctors often prescribe antibiotics for viral illnesses. Taking these drugs unnecessarily can fuel antibiotic resistance, giving rise to bacteria that don’t respond to the drugs that kept them in check in the past.

A new multicenter study shows how prevalent this scenario can be in hospitals’ Emergency Departments. This research, led by Monika K. Goyal, M.D., M.S.C.E., director of research in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Children’s National Health System, shows that non-Latino white children seeking treatment for viral infections in the Emergency Department (ED) are about twice as likely to receive an antibiotic unnecessarily compared with non-Latino black children or Latino children.

These findings, published online Sept. 5, 2017 in Pediatrics, echo similar racial and ethnic differences in treating acute respiratory tract infections in the primary care setting.

“It is encouraging that just 2.6 percent of children treated in pediatric EDs across the nation received antibiotics for viral acute respiratory tract infections since antibiotics are ineffective in treating viral infections,” Dr. Goyal says. “However, it is troubling to see such persistent racial and ethnic differences in how medications are prescribed, in this case in the ED. In addition to providing the best evidence-based care, we also strive to provide equitable care to all patients.”

Acute respiratory tract infections are among the most common reasons children are rushed to the ED for treatment, Dr. Goyal and co-authors write. Overprescribing antibiotics is also rampant for this viral ailment, with antibiotics erroneously prescribed for 13 percent to 75 percent of pediatric patients.

In the retrospective cohort study, the research team pored over deidentified electronic health data for the 2013 calendar year from seven geographically diverse pediatric EDs, capturing 39,445 encounters for these infections that met the study’s inclusion criteria. The patients’ mean age was 3.3 years old. Some 4.3 percent of non-Latino white patients received oral, intravenous or intramuscular antibiotics in the ED or upon discharge, compared with 2.6 percent of Latino patients and 1.9 percent of non-Latino black patients.

“A number of studies have demonstrated disparities with regards to how children of different ethnicities and races are treated in our nation’s pediatric EDs, including frequency of computed tomography scans for minor head trauma, laboratory and radiology tests and pain management. Unfortunately, today’s results provide further evidence of racial and ethnic differences in providing health care in the ED setting,” Dr. Goyal says. “Although, in this case, minority children received evidence-based care, more study is needed to explain why differences in care exist at all.”

At a time of growing antibiotic resistance, the study authors underscored the imperative to decrease excess antibiotic use in kids. Since the 1940s, the nation has relied on antibiotics to contend with diseases such as strep throat. Yet, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 2 million people in the United States are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year.

According to the study authors, future research should explore the reasons that underlie racial and ethnic differences in antibiotic prescribing, including ED clinicians eager to appease anxious parents as well as implicit clinical bias. Dr. Goyal recently received a National Institutes of Health grant to further study racial and ethnic differences in how children seeking treatment at hospital EDs are managed.

“It may come down to factors as simple as providers or parents believing that ‘more is better,’ despite the clear public health risks of prescribing children antibiotics unnecessarily,” Dr. Goyal adds. “In this case, an intervention that educates parents and providers about appropriate antibiotic use could help the pediatric patients we care for today as well as in the future.”

Keeping children safe from firearm-related harm

May 25, 2017

“While this preventable public health crisis occurs in the home, pediatricians who see children in clinic or at hospitals can play a pivotal role in helping to reduce gun violence,” says Kavita Parikh, M.D., M.S.H.S.

A review led by Children’s National Health System researchers presents new insights about pediatric firearm-related injuries. The findings, published May 23, 2017 in Hospital Pediatrics, show that up to 64 percent of U.S. households have firearms, and almost 40 percent of parents erroneously believe that their children are unaware of where weapons are stored. Additionally, about 22 percent of parents wrongly think that their children have never handled household firearms.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, firearm-related injuries are leading causes of injury deaths for youths. Younger children are more likely to be victims of unintentional firearm injuries, the majority of which occur in the home. Older adolescents are more likely to suffer from intentional injuries. Homicide by firearm is the second-leading cause of death for 15- to 19-year-olds, and suicide by firearm ranks as the third-most common cause of death for children aged 10 to 19. Estimates suggest that the cost of medical treatment for firearm-related injuries suffered by youths younger than 21 exceeds $330 million.

“While this preventable public health crisis occurs in the home, pediatricians who see children in clinic or at hospitals can play a pivotal role in helping to reduce gun violence,” says Kavita Parikh, M.D., M.S.H.S., associate professor of pediatrics in the Division of Hospitalist Medicine at Children’s National and study lead author. “In the course of providing care, pediatricians can ask patients and their families about children’s access to firearms, can encourage safe storage of firearms in the home and can support research into firearm-related injury prevention.”

The review article provides an overview of the prevalence of pediatric firearm-related injuries around the nation and a summary of legislative efforts and health care-related advocacy efforts to reduce firearm injuries around the nation. It includes research by four Children’s National co-authors who comprise the institution’s newly formed firearm-injury prevention research work group. Alyssa Silver, M.D., Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, is another co-author.

The study team found that about 20,000 children are transported to Emergency Departments each year for firearm-related injuries. Youths aged 12 to 19 make up 90 percent of this total. On average, 20 U.S. children and youths are hospitalized daily for firearm-related injuries. About 50 percent of the children who are hospitalized for firearm-related injuries are discharged with a disability.

The researchers identified regional variations in the percentage of households with firearms, as well as differences in firearm ownership by race and ethnicity. Across a number of surveys, 6 percent to nearly 50 percent of families reported storing firearms safely by using such methods as trigger locks and locked storage containers. There is a mismatch in what parents report — with many saying their child would never touch a firearm – compared with children who tell researchers they handle “hidden” firearms, including by pulling the trigger. One survey of 5,000 fifth-graders and their caregivers living in three metropolitan areas found 18 percent had household firearms. Of this group, African American and Latino households had lower odds of firearm ownership than families of white, non-Latino children. Among these survey respondents, families of white non-Latino children were less likely than families of African American children to use safer strategies for firearm storage.

“While public health interventions have had varying degrees of success in improving firearm safety, the most effective programs have offered families free gun safety devices,” says Monika Goyal M.D., M.S.C.E., assistant professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Children’s National and senior study author. “The stark differences in how parents perceive their children would act and the children’s own recollections to researchers underscore the importance of the combination of counseling parents to talk to their children about firearms and instituting safe storage practices for household guns.”

Sabah F. Iqbal, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Children’s National and study co-author, adds: “Most families are willing to discuss firearm safety with health care providers. It is encouraging that when families receive safety counseling from health care professionals, they store firearms more safely within the home. Pediatricians need to ask children and their families about the presence of firearms in the home. These essential conversations can occur in any medical setting and need to begin before a child begins to walk and explore their own home.”

Screening for access to firearms within the health care setting where youths receive routine care may represent a beneficial strategy, the authors write. A recent survey conducted among 300 adolescents seen in an Emergency Department found that 16 percent reported having a gun in the home and 28 percent said they could access a loaded gun within three hours. About 50 percent of adolescents screened for firearm access said a friend or relative owned a gun.

The study authors also discuss the benefit of “rigorous, well-conducted” research of firearm-related injuries to guide the work of public health agencies, policymakers and pediatricians, as well as supporting state-level laws shown to be effective in preventing firearm injuries, such as universal background checks and firearm identification.

“Rigorous investigations, with the use of validated scoring systems, large comprehensive databases and accurate detailed reporting and surveillance of firearm access and related injury are urgently needed,” Shilpa J. Patel, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Children’s National, and co-authors conclude. “A collective, data-driven approach to public health is crucial to halt the epidemic of pediatric firearm-related injury.”

Stronger firearm laws reduce ED visits

May 22, 2017

Children’s National researchers Sabah F. Iqbal, M.D., Shilpa J. Patel, M.D., and Monika K. Goyal, M.D., M.S.C.E., found that regions of the United States with the strictest gun laws also have fewer emergency department visits for pediatric firearm-related injuries.

A new study by researchers from Children’s National Health System find that regions of the United States with the strictest gun laws also have the fewest emergency department visits for pediatric firearm-related injuries. The work is among the few studies to evaluate the association between local laws and firearm-related injury to children and youth. The results, presented at the 2017 annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, could inform policies at the state and regional levels.

“Our results suggest an association between regional gun laws and firearm-related injuries in children,” says Monika K. Goyal, M.D., M.S.C.E., director of research within Children’s Division of Emergency Medicine and senior author of the poster. “Regions with stricter gun laws had lower incidence rates of firearm-related emergency department visits by children.”

Firearm-related injuries are a leading cause of death and disability among children and adolescents in the United States. It is well established that states with more restrictive gun laws have fewer firearm-related fatalities. However, it has been unclear how these laws affect the rates of firearm-related injuries among children.

To investigate this question, Children’s National researchers gathered data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), a set of hospital-based emergency department databases created by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to aggregate data about emergency department visits across the country. The researchers matched NEDS data from 2009 to 2013 in patients 21 and younger with state-level Brady Gun Law Scores, a measure of the strength of firearm laws, in four geographic regions: The Midwest, Northeast, South and West.

The researchers found that during this five-year study period, there were 111,839 emergency department visits for pediatric firearm-related injuries nationwide, an average of 22,368 per year. The mean age of patients was 18 years, and the vast majority was male. Just over one-third were publicly insured. About 30 percent of these recorded injuries resulted in hospital admission, and about 6 percent resulted in death.

Overall, firearm-related visits to emergency departments remained consistent over time at a rate of 65 per every 100,000 visits until 2013, when they decreased slightly to 51 per 100,000 visits. However, these rates varied significantly by geographic region. The Northeast had the lowest rate at 40 per 100,000 visits. This was followed by the Midwest, West and South at 62, 68 and 71 per 100,000 visits, respectively.

These numbers roughly matched the Brady Gun Law Scores for each region. The Northeast had the highest Brady score at 45, followed by 8, 9 and 9 for the South, West and Midwest.

These findings, the study authors say, suggest that stricter gun laws might lead to fewer fatalities as well as fewer gun-related injuries among children. Future studies about the role of regional gun culture and its impact on firearm legislation at the regional level, they say, is an important next step in advocating for changes to firearm legislation and reducing pediatric firearm-related injuries.

“Future research work should seek to elucidate the association of specific gun laws with the incidence rates of pediatric firearm-related injuries,” says Shilpa Patel, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Children’s National and co-author of the poster. “This work also could evaluate how regional differences — such as social gun culture, gun ownership and other factors — contribute to the significant regional variation in firearm legislation.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics, an organization of 66,000 pediatricians, has repeatedly advocated for stricter gun laws, violence prevention programs, research for gun violence prevention and public health surveillance, physician counseling to patients on the health hazards of firearms and mental health access to address exposure to violence.

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