Biomedical subjects

J Birckmayer

Publications and source records attributed to J Birckmayer.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Suicide and firearm prevalence: are youth disproportionately affected?

The effect of firearm availability on suicide may differ among age groups. We used regression analysis to examine the relationship between suicide rates and household firearm ownership for four age groups in the nine census regions from 1979 to 1994, adjusting for regional divorce rates, education, unemployment, and urbanicity. Results showed that firearm ownership levels are correlated with suicide rates among 15- to 24-year-olds and 65- to 84-year-olds, but not among 25-to 64-year-olds. The findings suggest that if the relationship is causal, a 10% fall in regional firearm ownership levels would lead to a 3.0% decrease in suicide rates.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

Minimum-age drinking laws and youth suicide, 1970-1990.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the association between the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) and suicides among youths aged 18 to 20 years. METHODS: The study used pooled cross-sectional time-series data on youth suicide and the MLDA for the 48 contiguous states in the United States from 1970 to 1990. Poisson regression was used to estimate the association between MLDA and youth suicide. RESULTS: A significant association exists between MLDA and youth suicide. Between 1970 and 1990, the suicide rate of 18- to 20-year-old youths living in states with an 18-year MLDA was 8% higher than the suicide rate among 18- to 20-year-old youths in states with a 21-year MLDA (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: MLDA is associated not only with the motor-vehicle death rate among youths but also with the rate of youth suicide. We estimate that lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 years in all states could increase the number of suicides in the 18- to 20-year-old population by approximately 125 each year.

Accidents, Traffic↗

PubMed1998

Did changes in minimum age drinking laws affect adolescent drowning (1970-90)?

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that changes in the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) laws would affect drowning among adolescents, the effects of changes in state MLDA laws on drowning were examined for the targeted (18-20 years) and two adjacent (15-17 years and 21-23 years) age groups, over a period of 21 years (1970-90). METHODS: Poisson maximum likelihood regression was used to estimate the effects of both lowering and increasing the MLDA. The dependent variable in these analyses was the number of drownings per state per year for the age groups observed. At first only state and year effects were controlled for and then any other variable potentially associated with the incidence of drowning was included. The other control variables included proportion of population living near border states with lower MLDA laws, urbanicity, unemployment, divorce, education, poverty, beer tax, and proxy measures for MLDA law enforcement. RESULTS: No significant association between drowning and MLDA was found for any of the age groups studied. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that MLDA laws are not an important public policy strategy for affecting drowning rates among adolescents and young adults.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

State study of pyrotechnics-related injuries and property damage.

In December 1993, the State of North Carolina legalized the sale of certain types of fireworks. To date, no study has examined the impact of legalization of fireworks on health care and public safety. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of legalized pyrotechnics specific to our state with regard to injury, property damage, and suppression costs. The population groups surveyed were the state fire departments, county fire marshals, hospital emergency departments, and county forest rangers. Each group was asked to complete a questionnaire on all incidents involving pyrotechnics devices, both legal and illegal, used during the study period. A total of 233 responses were received from the 1644 agencies surveyed. Forty-one injuries and 129 fireworks-related fires were reported. Total property loss was $185,570. Property loss, injury costs, and fire suppression costs totaled $799,450. This study provides a very conservative estimate of the problem within our state. Stronger legislation to restrict access to pyrotechnics may reduce the damage and costs they cause.

Blast Injuries↗