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The effects of homicides and suicides on the population longevity of the United States
Author(s) -
Waigandt Alex,
Phelps LeAdelle
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.2490030210
Subject(s) - homicide , life expectancy , demography , census , longevity , poison control , population , injury prevention , suicide prevention , occupational safety and health , public health , medicine , gerontology , medical emergency , sociology , nursing , pathology
The purpose of this study was to analyze population longevity relative to homicide and suicide deaths in light of competing risks. Mortality data by age and sex derived from Vital Statistics and data from the U.S. Census were utilized to calculate life tables. The causes of death for this study were classified according to the Eighth Revision of the Internal Classification of Disease, Adapted (ICDA) (World Health Organization). The ICSA code for the causes examined in this study are homicides (E960–E987) and suicides (E950–E959). Calculations based upon public health data and cause deletion indicate a loss in population life expectancy due to homicide and suicide deaths of 0.70456 years for males and 0.2606 years for females. When the findings are translated to the life expectancy of the population in terms of time, a total of 1,305,805 person years per decade are irretrievably lost from suicide and homicide deaths.