Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on intentional homicides in the city of São Paulo
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2317-2770.v29i2e-231371Keywords:
Homicide, Pandemics, Coronavirus InfectionsAbstract
The World Health Organization declared in January 2020 that the outbreak of the disease caused by the new coronavirus, COVID-19, constituted a public health emergency of international concern. In March 2020, it was classified as a pandemic, leading to changes in people's daily lives. Fear of the disease and social isolation culminated in unemployment, increased alcohol consumption, and emotional problems, among other effects. This study aimed to analyze the influence of the pandemic on homicides in the city of São Paulo. An ecological study was carried out at the Department of Legal Medicine, Bioethics, Occupational Medicine, and Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine of the School of Medicine of the University of São Paulo. Data were obtained from the São Paulo Department of Public Security website (http://www.ssp.sp.gov.br) for the years 2019 (pre-pandemic) to 2022 (post-pandemic). Data analysis was performed using SPSS® Version 27.0. The epidemiological analysis employed the Poisson test to examine monthly homicide occurrences, complemented by cross-sectional and longitudinal analytical methods to compare homicide incidence rates across the city’s different zones. In the annual comparison of 2019 (5.95 deaths/100 thousand inhabitants) with 2020 (5.75 deaths/100,000 inhabitants), 2021 (4.95 deaths/100,000inhabitants) and 2022 (4.93 deaths/100,000 inhabitants), with a p-value of 0.001, there was a statistically significant difference in the mean number of cases across the studied periods. This finding was corroborated by analytical approaches using longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses. When analyzing homicides across the five municipal zones, the 2019 pre-pandemic period showed significantly higher rates compared to subsequent years. Homicides decreased during the pandemic period compared to the previous year. This drop in intentional deaths may be associated to social isolation measures implemented during the study period.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Danilo Ramos, Carmen Silvia Molleis Galego Miziara, Ivan Dieb Miziara
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