Injury deaths in the metropolitan region of Florianópolis, Southern Brazil, 1996–2002

Abstract

The objective was to analyse injury mortality in the metropolitan region of Florianópolis, Brazil, from 1996 to 2002. The study design was an ecological model. The mortality distribution was calculated along with the mortality rate due to injury in general and also by specific causes for each year during the study period and for the region's most populous towns. Injury mortality rates decreased in the period, but the homicide mortality increased by 103% when comparing the years 1996 and 2002. Most of the victims were children, young people and old people. This study confirmed a greater vulnerability among young people and the elderly, predominantly in the male population. The significant increase in the mortality rate due to homicides in this region was particularly noticeable and followed the same trend as has been observed in other regions of the country.

Keywords:

• injury mortality
• traffic crashes
• homicide determinants

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Vera Blank, who collaborated with the conception of the research design, the identification of the bibliography, the analyses of data and the revision and correction of the content of this article. I offer considerable thanks to Professor Maria Cristina Calvo, who had a fundamental role in the tabulation of data and in calculation of percentages and rates. She also collaborated in reading the database, in the production of graphs and in the analysis of the results. I am also very grateful to Lucie Laflamme, Professor at the Division of International Heath at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden for her review of the final version of this article.