Eric Sigel

• MD
• University of Colorado

Background Easy firearm access increases injury risk among adolescents. We evaluated the acceptability and feasibility of improving knowledge of a 3 min safe firearm storage education video in the paediatric emergency department. Methods We conducted a single-centre block trial in a large paediatric emergency department (August 2020–2022). Partici...

Background The Gun Shop Project aims to reduce firearm suicide and is widely implemented in the USA, yet little is known about the core firearm business practices and behaviours that might contribute to preventing firearm suicide. Methods Owners or managers of all firearm businesses identified as participants in Colorado’s Gun Shop Project were in...

This cross-sectional study compares gun carrying practices and participation in violence prevention programs among youth with vs without a parent in the US military.

Youth violence continues to be widespread. Despite numerous evidence‐based programs that reduce youth violence, objective ways to identify youth in need of services is lacking. Few screening tools are available that enables practitioners or community organizations to predict who may perpetrate serious violence. The Violence Injury Protection and Ri...

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for 10- to 24-year-olds in the United States and is a global public health issue, with a recent declaration of a National State of Emergency in Children’s Mental Health by the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Children’s Hospital Association. This cl...

The American Academy of Pediatrics and its members recognize the importance of improving the physician's ability to recognize intimate partner violence (IPV) and understand its effects on child health and development and its role in the continuum of family violence. Pediatricians are in a unique position to identify IPV survivors in pediatric setti...

Study objective: Safe firearm storage is protective against pediatric firearm injuries. We sought to compare a 3-minute versus 30-second safe firearm storage video in terms of acceptability of video content and use in the pediatric emergency department (PED). Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial in a large PED (from March to Septe...

Objective: We compared the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-2 to the PHQ-9 and examined the implications of using various cutoff scores on the PHQ-2 to detect moderate or greater depressive symptoms on the PHQ-9. We hypothesized that a cutoff score of ≥2 would be optimal for detecting scores of ≥10 on the PHQ-9. Methods: Demographic and depres...

The goal of this project was to determine whether screening youth and parents for firearm presence and imbedding those results in the electronic medical record (EMR) increased health care provider (HCP) documentation of firearms and subsequent delivery of a safe storage message. The study took place in a large adolescent medicine practice. Fifty-si...

Background and objectives Youth violence is an alarming public health problem, yet, violence screening and interventions are not systematically offered in primary care (PC). This paper describes data from a pilot effectiveness-implementation trial of an efficacious youth violence prevention programme (SafERteens). Methods The study was conducted i...

Objective: The presence of unlocked firearms in the home is associated with increased risk of suicide and unintentional injury in youth. We adapted an evidence-based program for promoting safe firearm storage, Safety Check, to enhance its acceptability as a universal suicide prevention strategy in pediatric primary care. Methods: We applied ADAP...

Statement of Purpose Youth violence is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Adolescent primary care visits provide an opportunity for violence screening and delivery of interventions, which are not typically offered in this setting. Thus, we examined implementation of an evidenced-based behavioral intervention (SafeERteens) in primary care....

Firearm homicide and suicide are the leading causes of violence-related injury deaths among U.S. youth. However, evaluations of the effectiveness of firearm violence prevention programs and strategies to reducing youth firearm violence are limited. To help inform and evaluate such efforts, this study aimed to identify risk and protective factors as...

Intentional and unintentional firearm injury is the second leading cause of death for youth, underscoring the need for effective primary prevention approaches that focus on increasing safe storage by caregivers and decreasing handling/carriage among youth. This article describes the state of the science for prevention of firearm injuries among chil...

Importance Firearm injuries are the second leading cause of death among US children and adolescents. Because of the lack of resources allocated to firearm injury prevention during the past 25 years, research has lagged behind other areas of injury prevention. Identifying timely and important research questions regarding firearm injury prevention is...

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine multiple ways youth may access firearms among a sample of urban, mountain west youth, and explore whether youth reporting various types of violence involvement and other behavioral or mental health factors have differential access to firearms compared with youth who do not report these issues. Meth...

Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews (AM:STARs) is the official publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Adolescent Health. AM:STARs is a series of clinical reviews that detail advances in the diagnosis and management of a wide range of health problems affecting adolescents. Edited by the AAP Section on Adolescent Healt...

Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews (AM:STARs) is the official publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Adolescent Health. AM:STARs is a series of clinical reviews that detail advances in the diagnosis and management of a wide range of health problems affecting adolescents. Edited by the AAP Section on Adolescent Healt...

Youth violence is a major problem in the United States. It remains the third leading cause of death among youth between the ages of 10 and 24 years and the leading cause of death in Blacks between 10 and 24 years of age. In its effort to prevent youth violence, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention funds six Youth Violence Prevention Center...

The mental, emotional and behavioral health problems of high-risk youth and youth living in high-risk communities are not inevitable and can be prevented. A shift from the nation's focus on treating disease and illness after it occurs to a concentrated effort on preventing the root causes of these problems is needed. Prevention science suggests a c...

Statement of purpose To determine whether risk for future violence perpetration is associated with mental and physical health problems. Methods A community based survey exploring multiple violence characteristics was conducted prior to implementation of a Community that Cares model targeting reduction in youth violence. All youth living in high ris...

Objective. Evaluate the use of a previsit violence risk screen to determine whether screening during routine care increases health care practitioner’s (HCP’s) documentation of violence risk. Methods. Once consented, adolescents filled out the Violence Injury, Protection and Risk Screen Tool (VIPRS). For usual care screen results were not viewed by...

Purpose: The National Eating Disorders Quality Improvement Collaborative evaluated data of patients with restrictive eating disorders to analyze demographics of diagnostic categories and predictors of weight restoration at 1 year. Methods: Fourteen Adolescent Medicine eating disorder programs participated in a retrospective review of 700 adolesc...

Background. Youth violence is a widespread public health problem. Despite recommendations to address youth violence by the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is unclear how often primary care practitioners (PCPs) do so. Purpose. To determine PCPs’ documentation of violence involvement. Methods. Children 11 to 17 years old were enrolled while attend...

This quality improvement project collected and analyzed short-term weight gain data for patients with restrictive eating disorders (EDs) treated in outpatient adolescent medicine-based ED programs nationally. Data on presentation and treatment of low-weight ED patients aged 9-21 years presenting in 2006 were retrospectively collected from 11 indepe...

Objective The purpose of this double-blind, placebo-controlled exploratory pilot study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of risperidone for the treatment of anorexia nervosa.Method Forty female subjects 12 to 21 years of age (mean, 16 years) with primary anorexia nervosa in an eating disorders program were randomized to receive risperidone (n...

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a screening tool to detect youth at risk for future violence perpetration for primary care. Youth (n = 165) aged 11-17 years enrolled during a primary care appointment. Two clinics served as study sites. Youth filled out questionnaires confidentially at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Primary outc...

Adolescents frequently engage in disordered eating behavior at an alarming rate, with many developing partial or full-blown eating disorders. The spectrum of eating disorders includes anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, eating disorders not otherwise specified, and binge-eating disorder. In this article we provide the practitioner with an update on...

This widely respected resource includes "The Adolescent Obesity Epidemic," "Adolescent Obesity: Etiology, Office Evaluation, and Treatment," "Medical Intervention in Adolescent Obesity," "Dietary Approaches to Healthy Weight Management for Adolescents," "Does Adolescent Media Use Cause Obesity and Eating Disorders?" "Bariatric Surgery in Adolescent...

Eating disorders in children and adolescents remain a serious cause of morbidity and mortality in children, adolescents, and young adults. The working knowledge of pathophysiology, recognition, and management of eating disorders continues to evolve as research in this field continues. This article builds on previous background and position papers o...