Time trend and spatial distribution of the cases of lethal violence against women in Brazil

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: to analyze the time trend and the spatial distribution of the cases of lethal violence against women in Brazil, according to age group and to race/skin color. METHOD: an ecological study of time series, with spatial distribution of the deaths of women victims of aggression, registered in the Mortality Information System, resident in Brazil, Brazilian geographic regions and states. Due to underreporting of deaths in some states, correction factors of the mortality rates were employed. For the trend analysis, we adopted the polynomial regression model. In addition to that, the mean rates and annual upward/downward trends were distributed considering the Brazilian federative units as analysis units. RESULTS: the mean rate was 6.24 cases of lethal violence per 100,000 women, with a significant variation across the Brazilian regions and states. The main victims of violent death in Brazil are young, black-/brown-skinned and indigenous women, with a growing trend in these population segments. The North and Northeast regions stood out with the most significant mean annual increases (0.33; r2= 0.96 and 0.26; r2= 0.92, respectively). CONCLUSION: there was a stable trend regarding lethal violence against women, with significant regional differences. Young, black-/brown-skinned and indigenous women are more vulnerable to violent death in Brazil.