title: Croatia is a safe tourist destination - study of foreign citizen mortality in Splitsko-dalmatinska and Primorsko-goranska County during the period 2001-2010.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the mortality rate of foreign citizens in Croatia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected from the Departments for Forensic Pathology in Split and Rijeka, which are the autopsy centers of the counties with approximately 35% of total foreign visitors, as well as from the Croatian Central Bureau for Statistics for the period 2001-2010. The mortality rate (number of deaths of members of each nationality per 100000 entrances ratio) and standardized mortality ratio (ratio between the observed and expected number of deaths) were calculated, and χ(2) goodness of fit test was used for statistical analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 447 deaths (325 men, 72.7%) of foreign citizens (mortality rate of 0.0015%). A total of 207 deaths (46.3%) were by natural causes, more often among older people, and 240 deaths (53.7%) were injury deaths, more often among younger people, mostly by drowning or traffic-related (22.2% and 18.6% of all deaths, respectively). Most represented were citizens of German, Austrian, Czech, and Italian nationality, with 115 (25.7%), 59 (13.2%), 58 (13.0%), and 52 deaths (11.6%), respectively. Mortality rate by nationality showed no significant difference (P<0.05). The standardized mortality ratio was lowest in Hungarian and Czech citizens (0.17) and highest in US citizens (0.35).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Croatia has low foreign citizens' mortality rate and could be considered a safe tourist destination.
authors.affiliation: University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia. kristijan.becic@gmail.com
authors.forename: Kristijan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bečić
authors.forename: Darija
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jandrić Bečić
authors.forename: Morana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Čengija
authors.forename: Goran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ćurić
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alujević
authors.forename: Marija
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Definis-Gojanović
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001344:Autopsy; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017523:Croatia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014195:Travel; D055815:Young Adult