Primary objective: This study examined the differences between gang and non-gang-related incidents of penetrative missile injuries in terms of demographics, motivation, intra-cranial pathology, transit time, injury time and clinical outcome.
Research design: Retrospective and prospective chart review.
Methods and procedures: Between 1985-1992, 349 patients with penetrating missile injuries to the brain presenting to LAC-USC were studied.
Experimental interventions: Inclusion criteria were implemented to keep the cohort as homogenous as possible. Patients excluded were those with multiple gunshot wounds, non-penetrating gunshot wounds to the head, systemic injuries and cases in which the motivation for the incident was unknown.
Main outcomes and results: Gang-related shooting slightly out-numbered non-gang-related incidents. Demographic analysis showed both a male and Hispanic predominance for both gang- and non-gang-related victims and significant differences in gender, race and age. Occipital entrance sites were more common in the gang-related vs temporal entrance sites in the non-gang-related. Mean transit time to the emergency department for gang-related shootings was less than non-gang-related shootings (24.4 vs 27.8 minutes). Most shooting incidents took place between 6pm and 3am. No difference between survival and outcome was noted between gang and non-gang victims.
Conclusions: Significant differences were found between gang- and non-gang-related shooting victims in terms of demographics, entrance site and transit time. No difference was found between injury time, survival and outcome between gang and non-gang populations.