IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i7p5256-d1106636.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inequalities in Violent Death across Income Levels among Young Males and Females in Countries of the Americas

Author

Listed:
  • Oscar J. Mujica

    (Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC 20037, USA)

  • Dihui Zhang

    (Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics and Biomathematics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA)

  • Yi Hu

    (Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics and Biomathematics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA)

  • Isabel C. Espinosa

    (T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA)

  • Nelson Araneda

    (Department of Education, University of La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile)

  • Anca Dragomir

    (Department of Oncology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA)

  • George Luta

    (Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics and Biomathematics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA)

  • Antonio Sanhueza

    (Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC 20037, USA)

Abstract

Background: Violent deaths (i.e., those due to road traffic injury, homicide, and suicide) are among the most important causes of premature and preventable mortality in young people. This study aimed at exploring inequalities in violent death across income levels between males and females aged 10 to 24 years from the Americas in 2015, the SDG baseline year. Methods: In a cross-sectional ecological study design, eleven standard summary measures of health inequality were calculated separately for males and females and for each cause of violent death, using age-adjusted mortality rates and average income per capita for 17 countries, which accounted for 87.9% of the target population. Results: Premature mortality due to road traffic injury and homicide showed a pro-poor inequality pattern, whereas premature mortality due to suicide showed a pro-rich inequality pattern. These inequalities were statistically significant ( p < 0.001), particularly concentrated among young males, and dominated by homicide. The ample array of summary measures of health inequality tended to generate convergent results. Conclusions: Significant inequalities in violent death among young people seems to be in place across countries of the Americas, and they seem to be socially determined by both income and gender. These findings shed light on the epidemiology of violent death in young people and can inform priorities for regional public health action. However, further investigation is needed to confirm inequality patterns and to explore underlying mechanisms, age- and sex-specific vulnerabilities, and gender-based drivers of such inequalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Oscar J. Mujica & Dihui Zhang & Yi Hu & Isabel C. Espinosa & Nelson Araneda & Anca Dragomir & George Luta & Antonio Sanhueza, 2023. "Inequalities in Violent Death across Income Levels among Young Males and Females in Countries of the Americas," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-11, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:7:p:5256-:d:1106636
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/7/5256/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/7/5256/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wagstaff, Adam & Paci, Pierella & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 1991. "On the measurement of inequalities in health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 545-557, January.
    2. Christelle Elia & Alexis Karamanos & Alexandru Dregan & Majella O’Keeffe & Ingrid Wolfe & Jane Sandall & Craig Morgan & J Kennedy Cruickshank & Reeta Gobin & Rainford Wilks & Seeromanie Harding, 2020. "Association of macro-level determinants with adolescent overweight and suicidal ideation with planning: A cross-sectional study of 21 Latin American and Caribbean Countries," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(12), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Hong, Jihyung & Knapp, Martin & McGuire, Alistair, 2011. "Income-related inequalities in the prevalence of depression and suicidal behaviour: a 10-year trend following economic crisis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 32102, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    5. Daiane Borges Machado & Davide Rasella & Darci Neves dos Santos, 2015. "Impact of Income Inequality and Other Social Determinants on Suicide Rate in Brazil," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-12, April.
    6. Kazuyuki Inagaki, 2010. "Income Inequality and the Suicide Rate in Japan: Evidence from Cointegration and La-Var," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 113-133, May.
    7. Peres, Maria Fernanda Tourinho & Nivette, Amy, 2017. "Social disorganization and homicide mortality rate trajectories in Brazil between 1991 and 2010," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 92-100.
    8. Elgar, F.J., 2010. "Income inequality, trust, and population health in 33 countries," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(11), pages 2311-2315.
    9. Kakwani, Nanak & Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 1997. "Socioeconomic inequalities in health: Measurement, computation, and statistical inference," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 87-103, March.
    10. Anne Schlotheuber & Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor, 2022. "Summary Measures of Health Inequality: A Review of Existing Measures and Their Application," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-25, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sungik Kang & Hosung Woo & Ja-Hoon Koo, 2021. "Precarious Suicide Behavior According to Housing Price Gap: A Case Study on South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-15, September.
    2. Kinyondo, Abel Alfred & Ntegwa, Magashi Joseph & Masawe, Cresencia Apolinary, 2022. "Socioeconomic Inequality in Maternal Healthcare Services: The Case of Tanzania," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 10(1), January.
    3. Kenya Valeria M. S. Noronha & M™nica Viegas Andrade, 2002. "Desigualdades sociais em saúde: evidências empíricas sobre o caso brasileiro," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG td171, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    4. Anna D’Ambrosio & Roberto Leombruni & Tiziano Razzolini, 2022. "Trading off wage for workplace safety? Gaps between immigrants and natives in Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(3), pages 903-960, October.
    5. D’Ambrosio, Anna & Leombruni, Roberto & Razzolini, Tiziano, 2017. "Native-Migrant Differences in Trading Off Wages and Workplace Safety," IZA Discussion Papers 10523, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Adam Wagstaff & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2004. "Overall versus socioeconomic health inequality: a measurement framework and two empirical illustrations," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(3), pages 297-301, March.
    7. Adam Wagstaff, 2005. "Inequality decomposition and geographic targeting with applications to China and Vietnam," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(6), pages 649-653, June.
    8. Laura Rossouw & Hana Ross, 2021. "Understanding Period Poverty: Socio-Economic Inequalities in Menstrual Hygiene Management in Eight Low- and Middle-Income Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-14, March.
    9. H. Eme Ichoku & William Fonta & Michael Thiede, 2011. "Socioeconomic gradients in self-rated health: a developing country case study of Enugu State, Nigeria," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 179-202, August.
    10. Bago d'Uva, Teresa & Jones, Andrew M. & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2009. "Measurement of horizontal inequity in health care utilisation using European panel data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 280-289, March.
    11. Cahuana-Hurtado, Lucero & Sosa-Rubí, Sandra & Rubalcava-Peñafiel, Luis & Panopoulou, Panagiota & Rodriguez-Oliveros, Guadalupe, 2013. "Efectos heterogéneos en la demanda ante un impuesto al refresco en México [Will the poor and high consumers benefit more by obesity prevention fiscal policies? Evidence from Mexico]," MPRA Paper 61277, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jul 2014.
    12. Martins, Lurdes & Veiga, Paula, 2010. "Do inequalities in parents' education play an important role in PISA students' mathematics achievement test score disparities?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 1016-1033, December.
    13. Sam Harper & Eric Ruder & Henry A. Roman & Amelia Geggel & Onyemaechi Nweke & Devon Payne-Sturges & Jonathan I. Levy, 2013. "Using Inequality Measures to Incorporate Environmental Justice into Regulatory Analyses," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, August.
    14. Kristina Burström & Magnus Johannesson & Finn Diderichsen, 2005. "Increasing socio‐economic inequalities in life expectancy and QALYs in Sweden 1980–1997," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(8), pages 831-850, August.
    15. Kajal Lahiri & Zulkarnain Pulungan, 2006. "Health Inequality and Its Determinants in New York," Discussion Papers 06-03, University at Albany, SUNY, Department of Economics.
    16. Olufunke Alaba & Lumbwe Chola, 2014. "Socioeconomic Inequalities in Adult Obesity Prevalence in South Africa: A Decomposition Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, March.
    17. Udaya S Mishra & William Joe, 2010. "Socioeconomic Inequalities in Childhood Undernutrition in India An Application of the Corrected Concentration Index," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 30(1), pages 847-854.
    18. Paraje, Guillermo, 2009. "Child stunting and and socio-economic inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    19. Jørgen Lauridsen & Jalandhar Pradhan, 2011. "Socio-economic inequality of immunization coverage in India," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-6, December.
    20. Lahiri, Kajal & Pulungan, Zulkarnain, 2007. "Income-related health disparity and its determinants in New York state: racial/ethnic and geographical comparisons," MPRA Paper 21694, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:7:p:5256-:d:1106636. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.