Study finds twice as many gunshots occur at night in American cities, potentially disrupting sleep for those who hear gunshots

Corresponding author Rebecca Robbins said: “When gunshots are fired at night, the loudness of the shots is likely to disrupt the sleep of nearby residents, followed by the cacophony of sounds from police cars and ambulances. Sirens are wailing.” Department of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women's Hospital. “Our findings shed light on potentially important but poorly understood social determinants of sleep and population health.”

Minimizing interruptions during your sleep cycle is important for achieving quality sleep and improving your overall health. A variety of factors, including jet lag from travel and late-night hunger, can disrupt sleep and lead to metabolic, cardiovascular, and psychiatric illnesses and conditions. Other disturbances, such as gunshots during the night, require further investigation.

Gun violence is a public health threat and the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States. The number of gun deaths due to gun violence in America is staggering. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than 48,000 gun-related deaths in the United States in 2022.

Additionally, researchers say the broader community impact beyond casualties from shootings could be exponential. Current research focuses on the effects of gun sounds on surrounding communities. The authors' previous research focused on the mental and behavioral health effects of gun violence.

“The traumatic ripple effects of mass shootings can extend throughout families and communities. Our research helps expand our thinking about who is affected by these events.” said Chana A. Sacks, MD, MPH, co-author. Department of General Internal Medicine and Mongan Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital.

The research team collected 72,236 publicly available records of shooting times and locations in six major U.S. cities from 2015 to 2021, including Baltimore, Boston, Washington DC, New York, Philadelphia, and Portland, Oregon. did. Using these data, investigators compared the prevalence of gunshots during the day and at night. Additionally, we created a map to visualize night-time shooting density across the city. To identify communities that may have been affected by the gunshots, they estimated the number of local residents living near where the gunshots occurred. The researchers also looked at the relationship between the number of nighttime gunshots and median household income.

To measure the potential impact of gunshots at night, the team estimated the number of people within earshot and the number of nights sleep could be disrupted for everyone within earshot. did. The research team defined this metric as “person-nights,” and estimated that approximately 12.5 million person-nights could be affected annually across the six cities. Among its findings: Nighttime shooting rates decreased as median household income rose. This highlighted the impact of higher levels of shootings and the potential for resulting sleep and other disturbances for people living in low-income neighborhoods. It also found that 51,789 (72%) of the gunshots in all six cities occurred at night, with most occurring on Saturday and Sunday nights.

The authors note that they did not directly measure sleep disturbances as part of this study. Of her 30 most populous cities in the United States, he only had enough public data for six to include in the analysis. The research team will study sleep disturbances in response to nighttime gunshots while working to design community-based sleep interventions to help individuals in communities with high shooting rates.

The authors attribute the insights described in their paper to collaboration between hospitals and across research specialties.

“Working as a multidisciplinary research team across the Massachusetts General Brigham Health System with experts in sleep and gun violence, we will deepen our understanding of the impact of gunshots on communities and inform this important national conversation.” “We were able to provide that,” Robbins said. “Conversations about guns often focus on gun-related death statistics, but our research draws attention to some of the less-discussed effects of gun violence.”

author: Research Brigham generals include Peter T. Machikos, Cornelia Griggs, and Elizabeth Cleman. Other authors include Mahmoud Affouf and Jay M. Iyer.

Disclosure: Robbins reports consulting income from Nacht GmbH, Savoir Beds Ltd, Oura Health Oy, Castle Hot Springs, and Sonesta International Hotels Corporation. Robbins is funded by Bryte Labs. Mr. Krelman reports consulting income from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Foundation, Circadian Therapeutics, the National Sleep Foundation, the Sleep Research Association Foundation, and Yale University Press. He has received travel support from the European Biological Rhythm Association, EPFL Pavilion, the Santa Fe Institute, the Sleep Research Association, and the World Sleep Association. He is also an unpaid member of Kronsulting's Scientific Advisory Board. Mr. Krelman's partner is the founder and chief scientific officer of Kronsulting.

Funding: This study was supported by the MGH Center for Gun Violence Prevention. Robbins has received grant support from the NIH/NHLBI (K01HL150339). KLerman is NIH (R01NS099055, U01NS114001, U54AG062322, R21DA052861, R21DA052861, R01NS114526-02S1, R01-HD107064), Ministry of Defense (W81XWH201076), And leducq Foundation for Cardiovascular has received a subsidy assistance. the study.

Papers cited: R. Robbins other. “Estimating community disorder from nighttime gunshots in six U.S. cities, 2015 to 2021. Journal of General Internal Medicine. DOI: 10.1007/s11606-024-08707-9.”