Homicides among women in the different Brazilian regions in the last 35 years: an analysis of age-period-birth cohort effects.

Edinilsa Ramos De Souza,Taynãna César Simões,Adalgisa Peixoto Ribeiro,Karina Cardoso Meira,Juliano Dos Santos,Lannuzya Veríssimo E Oliveira,Raphael Mendonça Guimarães,Laiane Felix Borges

doi:10.1590/1413-81232017229.12392017

Abstract

The aim of this study is to estimate the effects of age-period-birth cohort (APC) on female homicides. This is an ecological study which analyzed the violence-related death records of women aged 10 years and older, in the Brazilian geographic regions, between 1980 and 2014. Data on mortality were extracted from the Mortality Information System. The trend analysis was conducted using negative binomial regression and APC effects were analyzed using estimable functions. The average mortality rate for the period was 5.13 deaths per 100,000 women, with the highest rates observed in the Central-West (7.98 deaths), followed by the Southeast (4.78 deaths), North (4.77 deaths), Northeast (4.05 deaths) and South (3.82 deaths) regions. All regions presented a decrease in the risk of death in the period from 2010 to 2014, except for the Northeast region (RR = 1.06, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.10). There was a progressive increase in the homicide risk for women born from 1955 to 1959 in all Brazilian regions. Younger women are at higher risk of dying from homicides in all Brazilian geographic regions. The upward trend of homicide mortality rates according to birth cohort was significant and the highest risk was observed in women born between 2000 and 2004.

Highlights

Gender violence is understood as actions undertaken in the private or public realm, occurring in a wide-range of contexts
According to Meneghel et al.[6], female homicides across a wide-range of situations can be described as femicide: deaths perpetrated by intimate partners, serial crimes, sexual violence followed by death and revenge killings, especially where there is high socio-economic inequality or in places controlled by organized crime
It is thought that this method does not overestimate the occurrence of femicide, given this is compensated by the problems that exist in relation to under-reporting and the high number of deaths registered as events of undetermined intent, especially in the poorer regions of the country[6,13,15,17,18]

Summary

Introduction

Gender violence is understood as actions undertaken in the private or public realm, occurring in a wide-range of contexts. It happens most frequently in the domestic environment. According to WHO, violence against women is a public health concern[4] and may occur in the form of psychological, sexual, physical, economic and patrimonial violence, potentially culminating in murder, the maximum expression of gender-based violence against women, known as femicide[5,6]. According to Meneghel et al.[6], female homicides across a wide-range of situations can be described as femicide: deaths perpetrated by intimate partners, serial crimes, sexual violence followed by death and revenge killings, especially where there is high socio-economic inequality or in places controlled by organized crime

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Conclusion