Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #103068

Vilma Pinheiro Gawryszewski, Surveillance Center/ Injury Prevention, São Paulo State Health Department, Av Dr. Arnaldo 351, sala 609, sexto andar, Cerqueira Cesar, São Paulo, Brazil, 55 11 99549251, gawrysze@uol.com.br, Tulio Kahn, Analyzis and Planning Coordination, São Paulo State Police Department, Rua Líbero Badaró, 89, oitavo andar, São Paulo, Brazil, and Maria Helena Prado Mello Jorge, Public Health School, São Paulo University, Av Dr. Arnaldo 751 primeiro andar, São Paulo, Brazil.

Background: The increase in homicide rates in Sao Paulo in the last two decades points that it is important to monitor the magnitude of this problem as well to improve the knowledge about the circumstances. The proposal of this study was to link information about homicide from different sources of data. Setting: Sao Paulo City, Brazil. Methods: The homicide data from death certificate, medical examiners and police records was linked for second semester 2001. Variables about the victims, factors risk and some circumstances of occurrence were analyzed. Results: The homicide crude rate was 57.2/100,000 and highest rates were observed among men, aged 15 to 29 years (56.0% of all cases). The proportion of firearms-related homicide was 88.6%, higher among men than women (difference was statistically significant). Most injuries were to the head (68.9%). Among the victims who underwent to drug screening blood alcohol concentration was found positive in 42.5% of the victims (44.0% for men and 24.0% for women, the difference was statistically significant). More than half of victims died at the scene (56.3%). Most occurrences were found at night on weekends. It was found a high coincidence between place of residence of the victim and place of occurrence of event. Conclusions: The findings highlight the problem of homicides in Sao Paulo City. Linking information has enlarged the understanding of the problem as well as improved the quality of data. These results were the basis to establish a homicide surveillance based on different sources of information.

Learning Objectives:

• Assess the burden of homicides in a big city in Brazil
• Evaluate a violent death surveillance system

Keywords: Homicide, Substance Abuse

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.