Story highlights 15- to 19-year-olds in rural areas had the highest rate of hospitalization for self-inflicted harm, study finds

6% of children who were hospitalized for firearm injuries died

(CNN) Teens 15 to 19 years old in urban areas have the highest rate of firearm injury among children in the United States, according to a new study.

The hospitalization rate is higher in urban areas than rural areas overall, but but for 5- to 14-year-olds hospitalizations are lower in urban areas than rural areas, the researchers found. Injuries in both age groups are typically unintentional.

"Male sex, non-white race and late adolescent age are risk factors for pediatric and adolescent firearm injuries," said Dr. James Dodington, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine and an author of the report, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. "But what has not been clearly defined is, what are the rates of firearm injury hospitalizations between rural and urban populations?"

The fact that the 5- to 14-year-olds in rural areas had a higher rate of hospitalization was something that has not been clearly reported elsewhere, Dodington said.

He noted that the study displays what is occurring but not necessarily why. "And we think it requires some further investigation, as that population doesn't take up the large media landscape around firearm injuries being very common around urban adolescents."

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