Intentional homicide, drug trafficking and social indicators in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

To study the association between intentional homicide, drug trafficking and social indicators in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil in 2010. This is an ecological study, based on cases of intentional homicides and drug trafficking registered by the Civil Police of Bahia, as well as social indicators. A negative binomial regression model, utilizing R software (version 2.13.0), was used to verify the association between the homicide rate, drug trafficking and the proportion of black males aged 15 - 49. There were 1391 homicides in 2010, giving a rate of 108.5 homicides per 100,000 people. It was observed that in neighborhoods with a proportion of black males aged 15 - 49 over 60%, this rate increased by 89% (≥ 60% and ≤ 80%) and 87% (> 80%), compared to neighborhoods with less than 60% of black males aged 15 - 49. Regarding the factor of drug trafficking, there was a statistically significant average increase of 40% in terms of this coefficient in neighborhoods with five or more cases of drug trafficking, compared to neighborhoods with less than five of such cases. The empirical evidence that was observed can help to contribute to the existing knowledge about the phenomenon of deaths due to homicide in large cities, and it will also help managers, public security and organized civil society to face this problem.