Deaths from homicides: a historical series

OBJECTIVE: to describe mortality from homicides in Itabuna, in the State of Bahia.METHOD: study with hybrid, ecological and time-trend design. The mortality coefficients per 1,000 inhabitants, adjusted by the direct technique, proportional mortality by sex and age range, and Potential Years of Life Lost were all calculated.RESULTS: since 2005, the external causes have moved from third to second most-common cause of death, with homicides being responsible for the increase. In the 13 years analyzed, homicides have risen 203%, with 94% of these deaths occurring among the male population. Within this group, the growth occurred mainly in the age range from 15 to 29 years of age. It was ascertained that 83% of the deaths were caused by firearms; 57.2% occurred in public thoroughfares; and 98.4% in the urban zone. In 2012, the 173 homicides resulted in 7,837 potential years of life lost, with each death causing, on average, the loss of 45.3 years.CONCLUSIONS: mortality by homicide in a medium-sized city in Bahia reaches levels observed in the big cities of Brazil in the 1980s, evidencing that the phenomenon of criminality - formerly predominant only in the big urban centers - is advancing into the rural area of Brazil, causing changes in the map of violent homicide in Brazil.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Costa,Flávia Azevedo de Mattos Moura, Trindade,Ruth França Cizino da, Santos,Claudia Benedita dos
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto / Universidade de São Paulo 2014
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-11692014000601017
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