Morbidity due to external causes: the many unreported cases by the Unified Health System (SUS)

Abstract

The increase in violence has shaped up as a major challenge faced in the world. Our goal was to analyze the violence morbidity in Feira de Santana (BA), according to the profile of the victims, perpetrators and violent act’s circumstances. We have conducted a cross-sectional study with retrospective cases treated by the Department of Technical Police of the municipality, which showcased injuries, in the period 2006-2008. We recorded 4,158 cases of injury, with higher prevalence among young men. The average age of victims was 30.4 years (±13.2 years). The age separation showed up that the violence concentrated the largest percentage of cases among 20-29 years and 30 to 39 years old young adult (34.5% and 23.8%, respectively). The analysis also reviewed that the specific cause of intentional violence were more common among 10-19 years old people (86.6%). Legal interventions were the main reason for aggression (28.9%), followed by family conflict (21.5%). The paper stands out the need for improving the quality of information reported by the police as well as the examination report of “corpus delicti” and execution of public policy from the National Health System perspective, which focus on violence preventio.