Deaths due to motorcycle accidents and their association with variables related to social reproduction in a northeastern Brazilian state

The objective of this article was to identify the association between motorcycle deaths and variables related to Samaja's theory of social reproduction in the period 2000-2005 in the state of Pernambuco. An ecological, case-control study was carried out, with municipalities as the unit of analysis. Cases were defined as the 20% of municipalities with the highest local empirical Bayesian coefficients for mortality due to motorcycle accidents, and controls as the 40% with the lowest coefficients. The municipalities with the greatest chances of high coefficients for mortality due to motorcycle accidents showed high population growth factors and increases in the total fleet of motorcycles, with low population densities, low GDP per capita, and more than 20 motorcycles per thousand inhabitants. We conclude that the variables related to macro-policies proved to have greater force in explaining higher chances of motorcycle death.