1. The ICD.9.CM codes (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification) used in this analysis were E-codes (external cause codes). They are as follows:
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2. The figures reflect acute care inpatient hospitalizations only. Those succumbing to gunshot wounds before being admitted to the hospital (e.g., those who die en route to the hospital or in the emergency room before being admitted as an inpatient) are not included.
3. The data do not include gunshot wounds by legal intervention (e.g., a police officer inflicting a gunshot wound on a robbery suspect).
4. The data were reported as submitted to us by the hospital. If a hospital failed to provide complete information, the number of hospitalizations would be undercounted.
5. Average charges are reported. These figures were adjusted to eliminate aberrant charges (e.g. those that are so high they would skew the data or those that might simply be in error). It is important to note that these charges are associated with the entire hospitalization not just treatment associated with the gunshot wound, and they are hospital charges only (they do not include physician fees, outpatient fees, etc.). Further, while charges are a standard way of reporting data, they do not reflect the actual cost of the treatment nor do they reflect the payment that the hospital may have actually received. It is important to note, too, that some gunshot wound victims go on to receive medical rehabilitation (e.g., spinal cord injuries). Charges for these services are not included with these data.
6.These counts reflect hospitalizations, not persons. For example, if the same person was admitted to an acute care hospital for a gunshot wound on two separate occasions in 1996, they were counted twice.
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