ArticlePopulation health metrics2015
High rates of homicide in a rural South African population (2000-2008): findings from a population-based cohort study.
Article in Population health metrics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interpersonal violence-related physical injury in low- and middle-income countries and its association with markers of socioeconomic status: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Associations between social determinants of health and interpersonal violence-related injury in Cameroon: a cross-sectional study.BMJ global health · 2022Article
- Legal Frameworks: A Starting Point for Strengthening Medicolegal Death Investigation Systems and Improving Cause and Manner of Death Statistics in Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems.Academic forensic pathology · 2021Review
- Life-Course Trauma and Later Life Mental, Physical, and Cognitive Health in a Postapartheid South African Population: Findings From the HAALSI study.Journal of aging and health · 2020Article
- Affordability and Availability of Child Restraints in an Under-Served Population in South Africa.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Community perspectives on HIV, violence and health surveillance in rural South Africa: a participatory pilot study.Journal of global health · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSouth Africa has continued to receive increasing attention due to unprecedented high levels of violence. Homicide-related violence accounts for a significant proportion of unnatural deaths and contributes significantly to loss of years of expected life. We investigated levels and factors associated with homicide-related deaths and identify communities with excessively high homicide risk in a typical rural South African population.
methodData drawn from verbal autopsies conducted on all deaths recorded during annual demographic and health surveillance in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa were used to derive the cumulative probability of death from homicide over a nine-year period (2000-2008). Weibull regression methods were used to investigate factors associated with homicide deaths. A Kulldorff spatial scan statistic was used to identify spatial clusters of homicide-related deaths.
resultsWith 536 homicide-related deaths, and a median seven years of follow-up, the study found an overall homicide incidence rate of 66 deaths per 100, 000 person-years of observation (PYOs) (95 % CI 60-72) for the period under study. Death related to the use of firearms was the leading reported method of homicide (65 %) and most deaths occurred over weekends (43 %). Homicides are the second-most common cause of death in men aged 25-34 after HIV-related deaths (including TB) in this community, at 210 deaths per 100,000 PYOs, and was highest among 55-64 year old women, at 78 deaths per 100,000 PYOs. Residency status, age, socioeconomic status, and highest education level attained independently predicted the risk of homicide death. The spatial distribution of homicide deaths was not homogenous and the study identified two clear geographical clusters with significantly elevated homicide risk.
conclusionThe high rates of homicide observed in this typical rural South African population - particularly among men - underscore the need for urgent interventions to reduce this tragic and theoretically preventable loss of life in this population and similar South African settings.
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