Racial segregation and county level intentional injury in Pennsylvania: analysis of hospital discharge data for 1997–1999
- 1Center for Injury Research and Control, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA
- 2Department of Biostatistics, University of Pittsburgh
- 3Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania
- Correspondence to: Dr A Fabio Center for Injury Research and Control, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh, 200 Lothrop Street, Suite B400-PUH, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; fabioaupmc.edu
- Accepted 15 July 2003
Abstract
Study Objective: This study examined whether high levels of racial segregation are associated with high county level intentional injury rates.
Design: Multiple linear regression was used to assess the association between county racial segregation (measured by the Gini coefficient) and intentional injury rates. Multicollinearity was assessed with Eigenvalues and condition indices.
Setting: State of Pennsylvania.
Patients: County level intentional injury rates for 1995 to 1997 were calculated from hospital discharge data.
Main results: After controlling for other known county level risk factors, higher levels of racial segregation in a county were significantly related to higher intentional injury rates. Multicollinearity was not a problem. Population size and density, family stability and median income, together with the percentage male, unemployed, in poverty, divorced men, and high school graduates of the county were controlled.
Conclusions: Racial segregation is an important factor in the rate of intentional injury in a community. These results may be important for municipal and state agencies when developing public policies to prevent violence and promote racial integration.
Footnotes
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↵* Excluded are self inflicted injuries (E950-E959), injuries due to legal intervention (E970-E978) and operations of war (E990-E999), adverse effect (E870-E879, E930-E949), or cases in which the intent could not be determined at time of admission (E980-E989).
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Funding: research reported in this paper was supported in part by grant no B49/CCR310285, Grants for Injury Control Research Centers, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
