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