title: Deaths from homicides: a historical series.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to describe mortality from homicides in Itabuna, in the State of Bahia.
  
  
  METHODS
  study with hybrid, ecological and time-trend design. The mortality coefficients per 1,000 inhabitants, adjusted by the direct technique, proportional mortality by sex and age range, and Potential Years of Life Lost were all calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  since 2005, the external causes have moved from third to second most-common cause of death, with homicides being responsible for the increase. In the 13 years analyzed, homicides have risen 203%, with 94% of these deaths occurring among the male population. Within this group, the growth occurred mainly in the age range from 15 to 29 years of age. It was ascertained that 83% of the deaths were caused by firearms; 57.2% occurred in public thoroughfares; and 98.4% in the urban zone. In 2012, the 173 homicides resulted in 7,837 potential years of life lost, with each death causing, on average, the loss of 45.3 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  mortality by homicide in a medium-sized city in Bahia reaches levels observed in the big cities of Brazil in the 1980s, evidencing that the phenomenon of criminality - formerly predominant only in the big urban centers - is advancing into the rural area of Brazil, causing changes in the map of violent homicide in Brazil.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Flávia Azevedo de Mattos Moura
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceió, AL, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ruth França Cizino
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: da Trindade
authors.affiliation: Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Claudia Benedita
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: dos Santos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D006708:Homicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult