North-West University
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

Reason: contact: Authors

Cross-sectional comparisons of violence and injuries in an urban community, South Africa: Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study

online resource
posted on 2018-05-14, 07:16 authored by Petra BesterPetra Bester

Cross-sectional comparisons of violence and injuries in an urban community, South Africa: Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study

P Marange, IM Kruger, P Bester

Presenting author’s e-mail: petra.bester@nwu.ac.za

Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research (AUTHeR) Faculty of Health Sciences, North-West University (NWU), Potchefstroom, South Africa

BACKGROUND

Urbanisation brought different challenges in terms of violence and injuries in South Africa (SA). Injuries related to violence contribute to a high disease burden in SA. Apartheid made urbanisation difficult for black people because they were forced to live in townships. Socio-economic disparities in townships are risk factors for violence and injuries. There is paucity in literature of information on the occurrence of violence and injuries among this urban population.

AIM

To give a description of violence and injuries among a sample of adults aged 35 to 70 years at the time of enrolment into a study, living in an urban area within North-West Province, over a period of 10 years.

METHODS

The Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study, designed as a prospective, observational, cohort study was used.

RESULTS

A significant decrease in the occurrence of serious injuries over the 10-year period (z = 4.605 and p-value = 0.00), except in 2010 where a significant increase for injuries related to physical assault (z = -2.15 and p = 0.03) and domestic violence (z = -2.99 and p = 0.00) were observed. Urban characteristics like employment status and alcohol use were significantly associated with domestic violence (X2 =16.86, df =4, p=0.02) and sustaining a serious injury (X2 = 236.539, df =6, p =0.00) respectively.

DISCUSSION

The results obtained are consistent with other literature on violence and injuries in SA townships. Alcohol use and socio-economic inequalities like high levels of unemployment being risk factors for violence and injuries.


History

Usage metrics

    North-West University

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC