Characteristics of pepper spray-related injuries reported to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System during 2000–2020

Abstract

Introduction Exposure to pepper spray may result in adverse dermal, ocular, and inhalation effects. Furthermore, pepper spray, including the more potent bear spray, was used by both law enforcement and protesters in 2020 in the protests related to racial justice and COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The objective of this study was to characterize pepper spray-related injuries treated at United States (US) emergency departments (EDs). Methods Data were obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, a database of consumer product-related injuries collected from approximately 100 US hospital EDs. Pepper spray-related injuries reported during 2000–2020 were identified by reviewing all records that included the letter groups “pep” or “bear” in the Narrative field and “spray” in the Narrative field or Product code 1619 in the Product_1, Product_2, or Product_3 fields. Results A total of 1112 pepper spray-related injuries were identified, resulting in a national estimate of 34,582 pepper spray-related injuries, of which 43.4% were reported during 2014–2020. Of the estimated exposures, the age distribution was 14.5% 0–5 years, 18.5% 6–12 years, 18.2% 13–19 years, 19.6% 20–29 years, 11.8% 30–39 years, 9.1% 40–49 years, and 8.3% 50 years or older; 55.9% of the patients were male. The exposure route was 52.0% ocular, 25.7% dermal, 13.6% inhalation, 2.9% ingestion/oral, and 14.1% unknown. Conclusions Patients with pepper spray-related injuries tended to be older children and young adults, and the majority of patients were male. The route of exposure of most of the injuries was ocular.