Burden of Disease Research Unit
| Frequently
asked questions |
|
What
are the top causes of death due to injuries in SA?
The causes of injury deaths in South Africa are shown in Tables 1 and 2 and Figure 1 below from the Revised Burden of Disease estimates for the Comparative Risk Factor Assessment for South Africa, 2000 (pdf format 259 kb). These estimates are based upon the cause profile from the National Injury Mortality Surveillance Study (NIMSS) for the years 1999 and 2000. MRC/UNISA Crime, Violence and Injury Lead Programme Technical Report. The national burden of disease study estimates that there were 59935 deaths due to injuries in the year 2000, of which homicide/violence accounted for 46%, road traffic accidents for 27%, suicide for 9%, fires for 7% and drowning for 2%. There is a marked predominance of male deaths due to injury compared with females. The overall injury pattern does not differ form the Initial Burden of Disease estimates for South Africa, 2000 (pdf format, 457 kb) but the estimated numbers are lower as seen from Table 3 and Table 4.
Table 1: Number of Injury deaths by cause, South Africa, 2000 - Revised
Persons |
Males |
Females |
Rank |
Cause of death |
Deaths |
Rank |
Cause of death |
Deaths |
Rank |
Cause of death |
Deaths |
1 |
Interpersonal violence |
27563 |
1 |
Interpersonal violence |
23041 |
1 |
Road traffic accidents |
4785 |
2 |
Road traffic accidents |
15993 |
2 |
Road traffic accidents |
11207 |
2 |
Interpersonal violence |
4521 |
3 |
Suicide |
5461 |
3 |
Suicide |
4194 |
3 |
Fires |
1845 |
4 |
Fires |
4131 |
4 |
Fires |
2286 |
4 |
Suicide |
1267 |
5 |
Drowning |
1394 |
5 |
Drowning |
1068 |
5 |
Surgical / medical misadventure |
633 |
6 |
Surgical / medical misadventure |
1180 |
6 |
Other transport accidents |
781 |
6 |
Falls |
384 |
7 |
Falls |
1039 |
7 |
Falls |
655 |
7 |
Drowning |
326 |
8 |
Other transport accidents |
1004 |
8 |
Other unintentional injuries specified |
578 |
8 |
Other unintentional injuries specified |
257 |
9 |
Other unintentional injuries specified |
835 |
9 |
Surgical / medical misadventure |
547 |
9 |
Poisoning |
256 |
10 |
Poisoning |
640 |
10 |
Poisoning |
384 |
10 |
Other transport accidents |
223 |
11 |
Suffocation and foreign bodies |
265 |
11 |
Mining accidents |
247 |
11 |
Suffocation and foreign bodies |
136 |
12 |
Mining accidents |
247 |
12 |
Suffocation and foreign bodies |
130 |
12 |
Natural and environmental factors |
66 |
13 |
Natural and environmental factors |
184 |
13 |
Natural and environmental factors |
118 |
13 |
Mining accidents |
0 |
14 |
Legal intervention and war |
0 |
14 |
Legal intervention and war |
0 |
14 |
Legal Intervention and war |
0 |
|
All causes |
59935 |
|
All causes |
45237 |
|
All causes |
14698 |
Table 2: Percentage of injury deaths by cause, South Africa, 2000 – Revised
Persons |
Males |
Females |
Rank |
Cause of death |
Deaths |
Rank |
Cause of death |
Deaths |
Rank |
Cause of death |
Deaths |
1 |
Interpersonal violence |
46.0 |
1 |
Interpersonal violence |
50.9 |
1 |
Road traffic accidents |
32.6 |
2 |
Road traffic accidents |
26.7 |
2 |
Road traffic accidents |
24.8 |
2 |
Interpersonal violence |
30.8 |
3 |
Suicide |
9.1 |
3 |
Suicide |
9.3 |
3 |
Fires |
12.5 |
4 |
Fires |
6.9 |
4 |
Fires |
5.1 |
4 |
Suicide |
8.6 |
5 |
Drowning |
2.3 |
5 |
Drowning |
2.4 |
5 |
Surgical / medical misadventure |
4.3 |
6 |
Surgical / medical misadventure |
2.0 |
6 |
Other transport accidents |
1.7 |
6 |
Falls |
2.6 |
7 |
Falls |
1.7 |
7 |
Falls |
1.4 |
7 |
Drowning |
2.2 |
8 |
Other transport accidents |
1.7 |
8 |
Other unintentional injuries specified |
1.3 |
8 |
Other unintentional injuries specified |
1.7 |
9 |
Other unintentional injuries specified |
1.4 |
9 |
Surgical / medical misadventure |
1.2 |
9 |
Poisoning |
1.7 |
10 |
Poisoning |
1.1 |
10 |
Poisoning |
0.8 |
10 |
Other transport accidents |
1.5 |
11 |
Suffocation and foreign bodies |
0.4 |
11 |
Mining accidents |
0.5 |
11 |
Suffocation and foreign bodies |
0.9 |
12 |
Mining accidents |
0.4 |
12 |
Suffocation and foreign bodies |
0.3 |
12 |
Natural and environmental factors |
0.4 |
13 |
Natural and environmental factors |
0.3 |
13 |
Natural and environmental factors |
0.3 |
13 |
Mining accidents |
0.0 |
14 |
Legal intervention and war |
0.0 |
14 |
Legal intervention and war |
0.0 |
14 |
Legal Intervention and war |
0.0 |
|
All causes |
100.0 |
|
All causes |
100.0 |
|
All causes |
100.0 |
Figure 1: Top five causes of injury deaths by sex, South Africa 2000 - Revised
Table
3: Number of injury deaths by specific cause, South Africa 2000 (Initial Burden of Disease Study)
| Persons |
Males |
Females |
| Rank |
Cause
of death |
Deaths |
Rank |
Cause
of death |
Deaths |
Rank |
Cause
of death |
Deaths |
1 |
Homicide/violence |
32
485 |
1
|
27
134 |
1 |
Road
traffic accidents |
5
370 |
2 |
Road
traffic accidents |
18
446 |
2 |
Road
traffic accidents |
13
076 |
2 |
Homicide/violence |
5
351 |
3 |
Suicide |
6
370 |
3 |
Suicide |
4
866 |
3 |
Fires |
1
925 |
4 |
Fires |
4
476 |
4 |
Fires |
2
551 |
4 |
Suicide |
1
504 |
5 |
Drowning |
1
529 |
5 |
Drowning |
1
172 |
5 |
Surgical
/ medical misadventure |
503 |
6 |
Other
transport accidents |
1
195 |
6 |
Other
transport accidents |
942 |
6 |
Drowning |
357 |
7 |
Surgical
/ medical misadventure |
1
022 |
7 |
Falls |
698 |
7 |
Poisoning |
287 |
8 |
Falls |
983 |
8 |
Other
unintentional injuries specified |
642 |
8 |
Falls |
285 |
9 |
Other
unintentional injuries specified |
917 |
9 |
Surgical
/ medical misadventure |
520 |
9 |
Other
unintentional injuries specified |
275 |
10 |
Poisoning |
714 |
10 |
Poisoning |
426 |
10 |
Other
transport accidents |
253 |
11 |
Mining
accidents |
316 |
11 |
Mining
accidents |
316 |
11 |
Suffocation
and foreign bodies |
139 |
12 |
Suffocation
and foreign bodies |
275 |
12 |
Suffocation
and foreign bodies |
136 |
12 |
Natural
and environmental factors |
70 |
13 |
Natural
and environmental factors |
203 |
13 |
Natural
and environmental factors |
132 |
13 |
Mining
accidents |
0 |
14 |
Legal
intervention and war |
0 |
14 |
Legal
intervention and war |
0 |
14 |
Legal
Intervention and war |
0 |
|
All
injuries |
68
930 |
|
All
injuries |
52
611 |
|
All
injuries |
16
319 |
Table
4: Percentage of injury deaths by cause, South Africa 2000 (Initial Burden of Disease Study)
| Persons |
Males |
Females |
| Rank |
Cause
of death |
% |
Rank |
Cause
of death |
% |
Rank |
Cause
of death |
% |
1 |
Homicide/violence |
47.1 |
1 |
Homicide/violence |
51.6 |
1 |
Road
traffic accidents |
32.9 |
2 |
Road
traffic accidents |
26.8 |
2 |
Road
traffic accidents |
24.9 |
2 |
Homicide/violence |
32.8 |
3 |
Suicide |
9.2 |
3 |
Suicide |
9.2 |
3 |
Fires |
11.8 |
4 |
Fires |
6.5 |
4 |
Fires |
4.8 |
4 |
Suicide |
9.2 |
5 |
Drowning |
2.2 |
5 |
Drowning |
2.2 |
5 |
Surgical
/ medical misadventure |
3.1 |
6 |
Other
transport accidents |
1.7 |
6 |
Other
transport accidents |
1.8 |
6 |
Drowning |
2.2 |
7 |
Surgical
/ medical misadventure |
1.5 |
7 |
Falls |
1.3 |
7 |
Poisoning |
1.8 |
8 |
Falls |
1.4 |
8 |
Other
unintentional injuries specified |
1.2 |
8 |
Falls |
1.7 |
9 |
Other
unintentional injuries specified |
1.3 |
9 |
Surgical
/ medical misadventure |
1.0 |
9 |
Other
unintentional injuries specified |
1.7 |
10 |
Poisoning |
1.0 |
10 |
Poisoning |
0.8 |
10 |
Other
transport accidents |
1.5 |
11 |
Mining
accidents |
0.5 |
11 |
Mining
accidents |
0.6 |
11 |
Suffocation
and foreign bodies |
0.8 |
12 |
Suffocation
and foreign bodies |
0.4 |
12 |
Suffocation
and foreign bodies |
0.3 |
12 |
Natural
and environmental factors |
0.4 |
13 |
Natural
and environmental factors |
0.3 |
13 |
Natural
and environmental factors |
0.3 |
13 |
Mining
accidents |
0.0 |
14 |
Legal
intervention and war |
0.0 |
14 |
Legal
intervention and war |
0.0 |
14 |
Legal
Intervention and war |
0.0 |
|
All
injuries |
100.0 |
|
All
injuries |
100.0 |
|
All
injuries |
100.0 |
Figure
2: Top five causes of injury deaths by sex, South Africa, 2000 (Initial Burden of Disease Study)
Authors: Dr Rosana Norman, Prof Debbie Bradshaw, Michelle Schneider, Desiree Pieterse and Dr Pam Groenewald |
