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Table 3 Adjusted associations of purchaser and indexa purchase characteristics with firearm suicide among those aged 21–25 and 50–54 in 1996

From: Handgun purchasing characteristics and firearm suicide risk: a nested case–control study

 

Purchasers aged 21–25 in 1996

Purchasers aged 50–54 in 1996

aIRR (95% CI)

aIRR (95% CI)

Characteristics of individuals

Age at first purchaseb in years

1.07 (1.04, 1.10)

1.05 (1.03, 1.08)

Race/ethnicity

 Asian

0.92 (0.62, 1.37)

0.48 (0.26, 0.89)

 Black/African American

0.87 (0.50, 1.50)

0.39 (0.21, 0.73)

 Hispanic/Latinx

0.75 (0.53, 1.08)

0.51 (0.29, 0.90)

 Otherc

0.68 (0.34, 1.36)

0.84 (0.45, 1.57)

 White

(ref)

(ref)

Total number of study period purchases

0.99 (0.95, 1.03)

0.99 (0.97, 1.01)

Characteristics of index purchasea

Gun show purchase

 Yes

1.83 (0.85, 3.92)

1.09 (0.51, 2.31)

 No

(ref)

(ref)

Type of purchase

 Dealers’ record of sale

(ref)

(ref)

 Other

1.21 (0.62, 2.34)

1.04 (0.63, 1.73)

Handgun category

 Revolver

1.78 (1.32, 2.40)

1.36 (1.09, 1.71)

 Semiautomatic

(ref)

(ref)

 Otherd

1.21 (0.85, 1.73)

0.88 (0.63, 1.23)

Handgun caliber

 Small

(ref)

(ref)

 Medium

1.32 (0.83, 2.10)

1.46 (1.10, 1.94)

 Largee

1.19 (0.75, 1.90)

0.91 (0.67, 1.22)

Inexpensive handgunf

 Yes

1.36 (0.74, 2.51)

1.11 (0.64, 1.91)

 No

(ref)

(ref)

Time between index purchase and prior purchase

 Purchaser had only 1 purchase, or less than 2 years between index purchase and prior purchase

(ref)

(ref)

 2–4 years between index purchase and prior purchase

1.21 (0.76, 1.95)

0.95 (0.62, 1.47)

 5 + years between index purchase and prior purchase

0.80 (0.41, 1.57)

1.39 (0.80, 2.43)

Distance to dealer in meters

 Q1

(ref)

(ref)

 Q2

1.14 (0.79, 1.65)

1.01 (0.74, 1.39)

 Q3

1.17 (0.80, 1.69)

0.96 (0.70, 1.31)

 Q4

0.87 (0.59, 1.27)

0.85 (0.61, 1.17)

 Q5

0.99 (0.67, 1.46)

0.78 (0.55, 1.10)

  1. aIRR adjusted incidence rate ratio, CI confidence interval, ref referent, Q quintile
  2. aThe purchase closest in time to the case’s death
  3. bFirst purchase observed during the study period
  4. cIncludes American Indian, Pacific Islander, other (unspecified), and unknown
  5. dIncludes bolt action, derringer, single-shot, and missing
  6. eIncludes other and unknown caliber
  7. fProxied by manufacturers producing handguns in the bottom quantile of prices listed in the Blue Book of Gun Values
  8. When testing all pairwise comparisons, we additionally identified an association between medium versus large caliber handguns (aIRR = 1.61; 95% CI 1.27, 2.03) and revolver versus other handguns (aIRR = 1.55; 95% CI 1.10, 2.19) among the older cohort. After adjusting for multiple comparisons within models, the only associations that persisted among the older cohort were for age at first purchase and medium versus large caliber handgun. Results were unchanged for the younger cohort after adjusting for multiple comparisons within models.