Temporal trends in physical violence, gender differences and spatial vulnerability of the location of victim's residences

Pattern of oral and maxillofacial trauma and associated factors: An 8-year prospective study

BACKGROUND/AIMS

Oral and maxillofacial trauma (OMFT) is a public health problem due to its high occurrence and demand for resources for its management and the financial and social impact of OMFT victims on the health system. The aim of this study was to conduct an 8-year prospective analysis of OMFT cases from an emergency service.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A hospital-based 8-year prospective study on OMFT and associated factors was performed on data from December 2011 to December 2019. Data regarding sociodemographic (gender, age, and skin color) and socio-economic profiles (educational level, family income, and occupation), OMFT profile (etiology, OMFT type, and treatment), associated factors [alcohol consumption and personal protective equipment (PPE) use], OMFT occurrence (injury day and hour), length of hospital stay, and cost were collected. Descriptive and inferential analyses of data were performed.

RESULTS

Most OMFT cases involved men with low schooling and family income, resulting from traffic accidents. OMFT severity was associated with longer hospital stay, higher hospital costs and nonuse of PPE, midface fractures (mainly orbital-zygomatic fractures), closed reduction, and open reduction/internal fixation. Traffic accidents were the main cause of longer hospital stays for victims aged 41-60 years with better socio-economic status compared with cases that had higher hospital costs. In general, higher hospital costs were associated with victims of violence under 40 years of age, with low schooling and farmers. Alcohol consumption and non-use of PPE also contributed to increasing the length of hospital stay.

CONCLUSION

Oral and maxillofacial trauma severity was associated with longer hospital stay and higher hospital costs. Associated factors such as alcohol consumption and non-use of PPE contributed to increase the length of hospital stay and OMFT severity.

Spatial analysis of female intentional homicides

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the characteristics and spatial distribution of female intentional homicides, according to the regional health offices, in a state in the Northeast Region of Brazil.

METHOD

This is an ecological study that had the municipality and regional health offices as units of analysis and used data from the Brazilian Mortality Information System. Mortality rates were calculated and smoothed by the local empirical Bayesian method. To identify the existence of spatial autocorrelation, the Moran's index was used.

RESULTS

A total of 1,144 homicides were reported, with an average rate of 6.2/100,000 women. For all regional health offices, the 10-39 age group, black race/skin color, and single marital status prevailed. The homicides took place in public spaces. The days of the week with the highest records were Saturday and Sunday and the months of the year December, January, February, and June. The global Moran's index was 0.6 (p = 0.01). Clusters of municipalities with high homicide rates were identified in regional health offices III and IV.

CONCLUSIONS

The homicide victims were young, black, and single. The spatial analysis found critical areas of homicide occurrence, which are a priority for actions to prevent violence against women.