Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society
Table 3: Mortality Rates Per 100,000 Persons by Race, Sex, and Age Group and Manner of Deaths, Louisiana, 1999-2010 Accidents Homicide Suicide AAM WM AAF WF All AAM WM AAF WF All AAM WM AAF WF All
0-14
0.7
0.7
0.2
0.1
0.4
1.8
0.4
0.7
0.4
0.8
0.2
0.4
0.0
0.1
0.2
15-19
2.5
2.2
0.2
0.3
1.4
65.9
4.0
7.0
1.1
17.6
3.7
14.5
0.5
1.9
5.8
20-39
2.4
1.6
0.3
0.3
1.1
117.8
7.7
10.3
2.7
22.9
12.5
20.4
1.0
4.0
10.2
40-74
0.9
1.4
0.1
0.3
0.8
21.7
4.3
3.2
1.6
5.4
8.0
22.6
0.6
4.9
10.8
75+
2.8
1.6
0.0
0.1
0.8
5.5
0.9
1.9
1.3
1.5
9.6
29.3
0.0
2.0
12.4
Total
1.5
1.4
0.2
0.3
0.8
45.3
4.3
4.9
1.6
10.0
6.4
17.7
0.5
3.3
8.0
minor variations (see Figure 4). For ages above 15 years, the rate ratio AAM/WM =1.17 (Upton x 2=1.17, p=0.19). Homicide rates are presented in Figures 5A and 5B. The extremely high rates among the AAM 20-39 age group mortality rate at 117.8 dwarfed all other rates. To better display the differences between other rates, Table 5B displays them with a logarithmic scale on the y axis. The rate ratio between AAF (4.9) and WF (1.6) were 3.0 (Upton x 2=226, p<0.0001). For males, the rate ratio be- tween AAM (45.3) and WM (4.3) was obviously very significant (rate ratio 10.6, Upton x 2=5,218, p<0.0001). Suicide rates per 100,000 among children <15 years old were very low (less than 0.5). For all females, rates increased slowly to reach their highest in the 40 to 74 age group and then de- creased. Suicide rates were much higher among WF than among AAF (rate ratio 6.4, Upton x 2=194, p<0.0001). For AAM
Figure 5A: Mortality rates for homicidal firearm deaths by race, sex, and age group in Louisiana, 1999-2010.
Key: AAM=African-American Male; WM=White Male; AAF=African-American Female; WF= White Female
100,000. Other parishes with rates higher than 16/100,000 were either large urban parishes (Caddo 8.9, East Baton Rouge 18.2, Jefferson 16.7) or small rural parishes (East Carroll 24.9, Washington 19.4, Evangeline 19.0, St. Helena 18.0, Madison17.1, Claiborne 16.6). DISCUSSION The data have shown that race, sex, age, and whether deaths were due to accident, suicide, or homicide were important variables when describing mortality rates by firearms in Louisiana. Because this descriptive study was done fromdeath certificates only, no other risk factors were available for exploring the specific reasons for these distribu- tion patterns. The literature shows that another risk factor for firearm-related homicide is living in a poor urban area. Getting involved in gang-related urban violence partially explains the highmortality rates among juveniles and young adult males. 3-5 Availability of unsecured guns in the home is also a risk factor to be considered. Large discrepancies were also observed among Loui-
they remained low, with a high at 12.5 in the 20-39 age group. For WM, the peak was reached in the 75+ age group at 29.3. Suicide rates were also much higher among WM than among AAM (rate ratio 2.8, Upton x 2=501, p<0.0001). There were only 44 deaths in the category “Legal inter- vention involving firearm discharge.” Only one WM in the age group 15 to 19 years, 12 AAM and 17 WM in the age group 20-39, 6AAM and 8 WM in the age group 40-74, and none among females. Parish level data Parish firearmmortality rates reflect the influence of the important variables already identified: composition of the population by race, sex, and age group and other variables (poverty, crime levels…) that could not be identified from the limited data included in the death certificates. Parish mean annual mortality rates from firearms ranged from 6.9 to 38.8/100,000. The distribution of parish mean annual rates are displayed in Figure 7. Orleans Parish had the highest annual firearm related death rate at 38.8 per
172 J La State Med Soc VOL 166 July/August 2014
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