Mortality from violent causes in the Americas

This article provides an assessment of 1986 mortality from violent causes in the Americas. Directed at assisting with development of preventive public health measures, it employs data available in the PAHO data base to focus on the under-25 year age group, compare mortality from violent causes with mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases, and evaluate the relative role of motor vehicle traffic accidents, other accidents, suicide, homicide, and deaths from unknown causes in mortality from violent causes. The study uses the classification of causes presented in the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision. The results show that 517,465 deaths from violent causes were registered in 28 countries and political units of the Americas in 1986, mortality from these causes ranging from 19.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in Jamaica to 125 in El Salvador. Examination of available 1980-1986 data from five countries points to steady increases in mortality from violent causes in Brazil and Cuba that began respectively in 1983 and 1984. Assessment of male and female 1986 mortality from these causes in nine countries showed male mortality to be substantially higher, the lowest male:female ratio (in Cuba) being 1.9:1. Among infants, infectious and parasitic disease mortality was greater than mortality from violent causes in most countries. However, from age 1 to the study's 25-year cutoff, mortality from violent causes was found to exceed infectious and parasitic disease mortality in most countries and to play an especially large role in deaths among those 19-24 years old. Data from eight countries suggested that accidents other than motor vehicle traffic accidents were accounting for much of the mortality from violent causes among infants and the 1-4 year age group in 1986, while motor vehicle traffic accidents rivaled other accidents in importance among the older (5-9, 10-14, 15-19, and 19-24) age groups. It appears that the information presented could prove of considerable use in developing policies designed to reduce morbidity and mortality from violent causes (1).