title: Urban road traffic deaths: data linkage and identification of high-risk population sub-groups.
abstract: This study analyzes the profile of deaths from road traffic accidents in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, by linking two public databases, the Information System of the Urban Transportation and Transit Company (BH10) and the Mortality Information System (SIM). The linked database (n = 306) identified a 24% under-recording rate for deaths and differed in the age distribution from the BH10 database and in roadway user category when compared to the mortality database. The mortality rate for road traffic accidents within the city limits was 10.2 per 100,000 thousand, and was higher among men, young adults, and the elderly. Poisson multivariate regression showed a higher mean death rate for motorcycle occupants (rate ratio - RR: 1.81); pedestrians (RR: 1.32); males (RR: 1.24); single/divorced (RR: 1.27); young adults 18-29 years of age (RR: 1.75); elderly (RR: 1.59); and deaths at the crash site (RR: 1.39) when compared to the reference categories. The study unveils the city's traffic violence, expressed by the large proportion of deaths at the crash site and within the first 24 hours, and confirms the relevance of database linkage for characterizing vulnerable groups and traffic accident mortality in the urban setting.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Lúcia Maria Miana Mattos
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Paixão
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Eliana Dias
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Gontijo
authors.affiliation: Observatório de Saúde Urbana de Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Sueli Aparecida
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Mingoti
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Dário Alves da Silva
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Amélia Augusta de Lima
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Friche
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Waleska Teixeira
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Caiaffa
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult