Years of potential life lost by children and adolescent victims of homicide, Recife, 1997.

This is a study of years of potential life lost (YPLL) by children and adolescents aged between 1 month and 19 years who were victims of homicide in Recife during 1997. It also draws a profile of the victims. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was made of death certificates of Recife residents, aged between 1 month and 19 years, occurring during 1997, to identify homicides and the three other most frequent causes of death in the age group, in order to make a profile of homicide victims. YPLL was calculated for this cause of death and the other three. Homicide was responsible for 36.6 per cent of the deaths, followed by pneumonia (9.4 per cent), vehicle accidents (6.3 per cent) and other accidents (6.0 per cent). Most of the murder victims were 15-19-year-old male students, but their level of schooling was unknown in 96.6 per cent of cases. Death was caused by firearms in 93.2 per cent of the cases. Homicides were responsible for 59.1 per cent of YPLL, followed by pneumonia, vehicle accidents and other accidents. The risk of losing years of potential life by homicide in the group studied was 27.20 in 1000. These figures show the magnitude of homicides as a cause of premature death and how they have become a public health problem.