Dear John,

ICYMI on Health Affairs This Week, Jessica Bylander and Vabren Watts chat about recent developments from the health equity department.

The discussion expands upon last month's professional development event for authors, the second theme issue published on racism and health, Native American Heritage Month, and more.

Trends Related To Firearm Violence

The November issue of Health Affairs features two articles on gun violence.

The first article, by Nathaniel Glasser and coauthors, examines trends in firearm suicide, across the life course over the past twenty years, comparing trends in 2015-20 versus 1999-2014.

Glasser and coauthors find stable trends in firearm suicide by age, although there were higher overall rates across all age groups in 2015-20 versus in 1999-2014.

At the state level, they find higher rates of firearm suicide and total suicide in states with less-strict firearm policy environments than those in states with less-strict policy environments.

They note that “the difference in suicide rates between states with less-versus more-strict firearm policy environments was nearly as large as the nation’s overall homicide rate during the same period.”

The second article, by Zirui Song and coauthors, assesses the health and economic consequences of firearm injuries in children and adolescents among survivors and family members. 

They find significant increases in pain, psychiatric, and substance use disorders among survivors, and increases in psychiatric disorders among parents of survivors, among other findings.

Hospital Pricing Information Consistent Between Transparency-In-Coverage Data And Other Commercial Data Sources

Yang Wang et al.

Later this month, join us for the following events:

• November 28: Policy Spotlight: One-on-One with Nora Volkow, Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health
• November 30: Journal Club: Studies Of Prescription Digital Therapeutics Often Lack Rigor And Inclusivity