Firearm Fatalities Have Resulted in Nearly 500,000 Years of Life Lost in Ohio

ATHENS (News Talk 1480 WHBC) – A recent study shows firearm fatalities have resulted in nearly half a million years of life lost in Ohio, just in the last decade. The Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health recently released a study showing nearly 500,000 years of life were lost in the Buckeye state from 2009-2018 due to gun violence.

The research pertains to all gun violence, not just mass shootings. However, Director of the Alliance Rick Hodges hopes this research will contribute to the national conversation that is taking place.

The study reviewed data from the Ohio Department of Health from 2009-2017 and included preliminary data from 2018 to calculate 484,122 years of life lost (YLL) as a result of 13,001 deaths from firearms during the timespan

Cuyahoga County had the highest total number of YLL over the study, followed closely by Franklin County and Hamilton County.

The 10 highest counties for total number of YLL were as follows:

Cuyahoga – 71,261
Franklin – 68,382
Hamilton – 47,545
Montgomery – 32,199
Summit – 22,932
Lucas – 20,712
Stark – 16,320
Mahoning – 14,680
Butler – 11,847
Trumbull – 10,457

The 10 highest counties for average annual YLL rate per 100,000 population ranked as follows:

Adams
Jackson
Mahoning
Montgomery
Hamilton
Franklin
Meigs
Jefferson
Cuyahoga
Gallia

The southeast region of the state as a whole had the most counties with high rates of firearm fatalities per 100,000 population. Leite said the College of Health Sciences and Professions will convene an ad hoc group to continue to study firearm fatalities in the area.