Abstract
Describing the profile of victims and assaults by gunshot, where the outcome was death. An ecological study conducted in the city of Maceió/AL, in 2012. Data were collected from the death statements. The variables studied were: the death circumstances, gender, age, marital status, place, date, time, month and proportion according to the occurring neighborhood. The homicide mortality rate was 65.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, with 130.6 per 100,000 men and 7.8 per 100,000 women. Of the total number of homicides, 93.6% of the victims were men. The age group between 15 and 29 years of age was the most affected, with 68.8%. In 97.6% of cases the death occurred at the site of aggression, 74.1% in the streets. In relation to the date, 54.2% of cases occurred between Friday and Sunday. 59.7% of the homicides were concentrated in seven neighborhoods. The map of violence presented shows heterogeneous areas for the occurrence of assaults with firearms, characterizing the existing urban inequality in violence distribution.
Highlights
Growing violence morbidity and mortality rates in Brazil exposes the population to constant health risks, which makes this issue a priority public health problem[1,2].Several studies have pointed to the existence of the real growth of violence in Brazil, homicides, since the late 1970s(3)
1,071 (50.3%) were victims living in Maceió, with 805 (75.2%) being by assault and 684 were shooting victims, which were intentional assaults or homicides classified in the categories X93 to X95 of ICD 10, and that represented 63.9% of deaths from external causes and 85.0% of deaths recorded by assault
Among the 684 residents killed by shooting deaths, some exclusions were carried out: one had information of the same victim in two Death Declaration (DD); and 49 with death occurrences recorded in other municipalities
Summary
Growing violence morbidity and mortality rates in Brazil exposes the population to constant health risks, which makes this issue a priority public health problem[1,2]. Several studies have pointed to the existence of the real growth of violence in Brazil, homicides, since the late 1970s(3). Geographic regions and their respective municipalities, mainly the larger cities, have shown an increase in mortality from external causes since the 1990s(3). Among other explanations, this fact may be related to vulnerability and exposure to the occurrence of violence, as well as an inability to react to it. There is a growing number of studies on violence and, on a smaller scale, the problem of firearms use, possession and distribution in Brazil is receiving increasing attention[3]
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