#guns – EpidemioLogical

EpiRen’s Journal Club: Firearm-Related Hospitalization and Risk of Bad Stuff Thereafter, in Washington State, Between 2006 and 2011

on May 9, 2018May 8, 2018 By René F. Najera, DrPH

This study is pretty interesting... Researchers in Washington State took hospital records from 2006 and 2007 and found all the firearm-related hospitalizations (FRH) through diagnosis codes. They then matched those cases with hospitalized patients who were not hospitalized for FRH. They used frequency matching, which is one of the various types of matching you do when conducting [...]

Guns and Suicide

on May 7, 2018May 6, 2018 By René F. Najera, DrPH

This is going to be about suicide. Please click here to be taken to something lighter if you don't feel like reading this today. It will always be here for you to read. I won't get offended if you go check out puppies. I'm not really surprised when I hear that firearms are the preferred [...]

Imagine This, but with Guns…

on July 19, 2017July 19, 2017 By René F. Najera, DrPH

One of the most common counter-arguments from people who oppose any form of gun control is that people will kill people with other "tools" if guns are not around. They'll say that guns are just "tools" and that it's the "bad" person holding the gun who has a say in whether or not someone will [...]

The fight against inanimate objects

on June 27, 2016June 26, 2016 By René F. Najera, DrPH

The US Representative (Scott Perry) for my district had a "town hall" over Facebook the other night. He was sitting in his Washington office and took questions from people watching the live feed. On the one hand, I'd like to give him credit for taking questions from his critics (like myself). On the other, he [...]

The way things used to work doesn’t work anymore

on October 20, 2015October 19, 2015 By René F. Najera, DrPH

I'll be one of the first people to admit that I wish things were like they were 20 years ago. I was a teenager, and the world was mine for the taking. I was in college, and I had a ton of places that I would go "conquer." My friends and I played soccer once [...]

Guns and swimming pools

on January 30, 2015January 30, 2015 By René F. Najera, DrPH

Quick, what's the difference between a gun and a swimming pool? Don't answer that. It's a stupid question. Anyone with a grade school education -- or even no education -- should be able to tell the difference between the two. However, there continues to be this comparison between guns and swimming pools in trying to [...]

Those who are divorced from reality

on October 26, 2014October 25, 2014 By René F. Najera, DrPH

NOTE: Before you read any further, please consider bidding on an 8×10 print of a palace building in Korea. All proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders. Click here to check it out. Thank you. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 39,518 suicides in the United States in 2011 (the year [...]

Baltimore City is worth saving

on June 26, 2013June 26, 2013 By René F. Najera, DrPH

My thing is public health, and there is an enormous public health problem in Baltimore, where I work and will be going to school in September. This past weekend, a total of 20 people were shot. Eight of them died. Here is a story from the Baltimore Sun about the shootings. As of today, there [...]

Measles in Pakistan: Politics, People, and Guns

on May 14, 2013May 14, 2013 By René F. Najera, DrPH

[row][span size='5']A lot of bad things have come together in Pakistan to produce an outbreak of measles that is incredible in its scope and size. According to news reports, there have been almost 12,000 cases reported in the Punjab region of Pakistan over the last 5 months. That's 2,400 cases per month, or about 80 [...]

I’ve heard of getting armed to the teeth, but this is ridiculous!

on April 3, 2013April 3, 2013 By René F. Najera, DrPH

The town council in Nelson, Georgia, has passed a law requiring every household to have a gun and ammunition. I'm not kidding. And they're not alone: "Despite the skepticism surrounding it, Nelson’s “Family Protection Ordinance” is actually the latest in a series of toothless, symbolic measures proposed around the country. Spring City, Utah, approved a [...]