Source: School of Public Health
Living in areas with higher rates of gun violence may increase the risk of dying from stress-related cardiovascular disease, according to new research from University of Michigan School of Public Health researchers.
The study, which analyzed data from six Michigan counties between 2017 and 2021, found that for every 10 additional firearm incidents per year in a census tract, residents had a 1.6% higher chance of dying from cardiovascular disease linked to stress. This association held true even when researchers accounted for individual factors like age, race/ethnicity, gender, education, and tobacco use, as well as community-level factors like poverty level and whether an area was urban or rural.
“This research shows an important connection between firearm violence and cardiovascular disease risk beyond mental health impacts,” said Esther Lee, a PhD student in the Department of Health Behavior & Health Equity at Michigan Public Health. “It reveals that firearm violence can be considered an environmental stressor with lasting area-wide effects, pointing to potential opportunities for integrating cardiovascular disease prevention efforts with violence prevention work.”
The research team analyzed 93,983 cardiovascular deaths and 964,921 firearm-related crime incidents across 1,050 census tracts (small geographic areas typically containing 1,200 to 8,000 people) in six Michigan counties: Calhoun, Genesee, Kent, Muskegon, Saginaw, and Wayne.
