Homicide Victims and Alcohol Related Consumption in Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: Deaths due to external causes, mainly homicides, are a serious public health problem in Brazil. There is evidence that the tendency to impulsive and / or violent behavior is exacerbated after alcohol consumption. Otherwise, the relationship between alcohol and violent deaths is described in the medical literature without much precision. Objective: Analyze the relationship between victims' blood alcohol levels and homicides, in the micro-region formed by some municipalities in Greater São Paulo. Methods: Retrospectively, we reviewed the data from the medical records of 805 necropsies performed at the Medical Legal Institute of Sao Paulo (IML-SP) in Franco da Rocha, Brazil, from 2001 to 2017. Descriptive statistics were calculated to assess BAC testing status among decedents overall. The variables studied were sex, age, manner of death and blood alcohol level (BAC). Results: Of the 230 individuals analyzed, 200 (86.9%) were male and 30 (13.04%) female. The most prevalent age range for males was between 18 and 23 years (19.5%). For the women group it was between 12 and 23 years (33.2%). The vast majority of homicides (n = 162, 70.4%) was due to firearms, followed by sharp force and blunt force trauma (13% each one). Of the 230 cases of homicide victims analyzed, 205 (89,1%) presented a positive blood alcohol level (BAC), e.g, over 0,3 mg/dl. In the group of homicide victims by firearm, 57 (24,7%) of them presented a median value of BAC of 1.3 mg/ml. Discussion and Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that alcohol intoxication was common in homicide victims in Franco da Rocha from 2001-2017. It also confirms some findings from other researchers linking blood alcohol and deaths from unnatural causes. Our study showed that majority of victims are young adults, and most of them were under alcohol effect when they were murdered. So, the fact that the victims were drunk can contribute to the fatal outcome, in cases of homicide. This approach alone cannot establish that alcohol consumption is a risk factor for become a victim of homicide and further studies are necessary to a better comprehension of the effect of alcohol in homicide victims.