Vasan A, Mitchell HK, Fein JA, et al. - Researchers examined if neighborhood gun violence exposure is associated with children’s mental health–related pediatric emergency department (ED) utilization.

• In this location-based cross-sectional study, there were a total of 128,683 ED encounters for children aged 0 to 19 years living in 12 zip codes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who presented to an urban academic pediatric ED.

• Researchers compared pediatric ED utilization before and after episodes of neighborhood gun violence.

• Analysis revealed increased mental health–related ED utilization at 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months after the shooting among children living within 2 to 3 blocks of a shooting.

• There was an increase in children’s acute mental health symptoms in correlation with exposure to gun violence, emphasizing the necessity for prioritizing trauma-informed care in communities with a high prevalence of violence exposure, and public policies that reduce neighborhood gun violence.