Novel Linkage of Individual and Geographic Data to Study Firearm Violence

Abstract

Firearm violence is the end result of a causative web of individual-level and geographic risk factors. Few, if any, studies of firearm violence have been able to simultaneously determine the population-based relative risks that individuals experience as a result of what they were doing at a specific point in time and where they were, geographically, at a specific point in time. This paper describes the linkage of individual and geographic data that was undertaken as part of a population-based case-control study of firearm violence in Philadelphia. New methods and applications of these linked data relevant to researchers and policymakers interested in firearm violence are also discussed.

Figures

Figure 1

Flow Diagram Depicting the Ascertainment of Shooting Cases (Gray Areas Indicate Data Access Points)

Figure 2

Rapid Enrollment of Shooting Cases and Matched Controls

Figure 3

Kernel Density Maps of Assault and Self-Inflicted Shooting Cases and Controls in Philadelphia (White Space Indicates the Lowest Density and not Zero Density)