Gender inequalities in external cause mortality in Brazil, 2010.

Objective: To estimate mortality rate by external causes in Brazil.

Methods: Mortality national 2010's data corrected by underreport and adjusted by direct method were evaluated by sex according to age, region of residence, race/skin color, education and conjugal situation.

Results: The standardized mortality coefficient of external causes is higher among men (178 per thousand inhabitants) than among women (24 per thousand inhabitants), being higher among young men (20 to 29 years old) in all regions and decreasing with aging. The mortality rate reaches almost nine times higher among men comparably to women, being higher in North and Northeast regions. The death incidence by external causes is higher among men (36.4%) than among women (10.9%), meaning 170% more risk for men. The risk is also higher among the youngest: 6.00 for men and 7.36 for women. The main kind of death by external causes among men is aggressions, followed by transport accidents, the opposite of women.

Conclusions: Besides sex, age is the more important predictive factor of precocious death by external causes, pointing the need of many and various sectors in order to construct new identities of non violence.