Analysis of injury death trends among women in Macheng City, China, 1984-2008

Background There are few studies on trends in injury death rates in China during the recent decades of tremendous change in this society. This paper examined trends in injury mortality rates among women aged 15 years or older in Macheng City from 1984-2008. Methods Data on injury deaths in women from 1984 to 2008 were obtained from the Death Registry System in Macheng City. Injuries were classified using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), 9th and 10th editions. Results The average overall injury death rate of women aged 15 or older was 87.6/100,000 in Macheng City from 1984-2008. Injuries were the leading cause of death for women aged 15-44 and the fourth cause of death for all women during this period. The all-cause injury mortality rate decreased from 149.01 per 100,000 population in 1984 to 32.90 per 100,000 population in 2008 for women. Road traffic injury (RTI) was the only injury for which the mortality rate increased dramatically from 1984 (1.35 per 100,000) to 2008 (4.63 per 100,000). For all age groups, suicide was the leading cause of injury death. For women aged 15 to 64, RTI and drowning were the second and third leading causes of injury deaths, respectively. Conclusions The injury mortality rate for women aged 15 years or older decreased by 77.92% from 1984-2008. In contrast, RTI deaths increased sharply in the 2000s compared with the 1980s. Although the suicide rate decreased dramatically, it was still the leading cause of injury death for women. Research is needed to identify risk factors contributing to the increase in RTI and decrease in suicides.