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Macro Determinants of Cause-Specific Injury Mortality in the OECD Countries: An Exploration of the Importance of GDP and Unemployment

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Abstract

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and unemployment has a strong documented impact on injury mortality. The aim of our study is to investigate the relationship of GDP per capita and unemployment with gender- and cause-specific injury mortalities in the member nations of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Country-based data on injury mortality per 100,000 population, including males and females aged 1–74, for the 4 year period 1996–1999, were gathered from the World Health Organization’s Statistical Information System. We selected fourteen cause-specific injury mortalities. Data on GDP, unemployment rate and population growth were taken from World Development Indicators. GDP and unemployment rate per 100 separately were regressed on total and cause-specific injury mortality rate per 100,000 for males and females. Overall in the OECD countries, GDP per capita increased 12.5% during 1996–1999 (P = 0.03) where as unemployment rate decreased by 12.3% (P = 0.05). Among males, most cause-specific injury mortality rates decreased with increasing GDP except motor vehicle traffic crashes (MTC) that increased with increasing GDP (coefficient = 0.75; P < 0.001). Similar trend was found in females, except suicidal injury mortalities that also increased with increasing GDP (coefficient = 0.31; P = 0.04). When we modeled cause-specific injury mortality rates with unemployment, injuries due to firearm missiles (coefficient = 0.53; P < 0.001), homicide (coefficient = 0.36; P < 0.001), and other violence (coefficient = 0.41; P < 0.001) increased with increase in unemployment rate among males. However, among females only accidental falls (coefficient = 0.36; P = 0.01) were found significantly associated with increasing unemployment rate. GDP is more related to cause-specific injury mortality than unemployment. Injury mortality does not relate similarly to each diagnosis-specific cause among males and females. Further research on causation with more predictors is needed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Injury Control Research Center, West Virginia University, PO Box 9151, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA

    Sana Muazzam & Muazzam Nasrullah

  2. Department of Community Medicine, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Health Science Center, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA

    Muazzam Nasrullah

  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Mailstop E-46, Atlanta, GA, 30333, USA

    Muazzam Nasrullah

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  1. Sana Muazzam
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  2. Muazzam Nasrullah
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Correspondence to Muazzam Nasrullah.

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Muazzam, S., Nasrullah, M. Macro Determinants of Cause-Specific Injury Mortality in the OECD Countries: An Exploration of the Importance of GDP and Unemployment. J Community Health 36, 574–582 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-010-9343-5

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