The impact of structural factors on the injury rate in different European countries

Abstract

Background: A previous study pointed to there being two kinds of injuries -those with a mainly social genesis and those with a mainly environmental genesis. The aim of this study was to analyse how socioeconomic factors - such as level of economic development, alcohol consumption and unemployment and more cultural factors - such as education and religion - relate to kinds of injury. Methods: Motor vehicle traffic accidents were chosen to represent injuries with a predominantly environmental genesis and suicides those with a mainly social genesis. Oualitative comparative analysis (OCA) complemented by Pearson correlation was employed. The data come from 12 European countries. Results: Four groups of countries emerged from the analysis. Group 1 was high on both kinds of injuries and was also high on all the independent variables considered. Group 2 was low on social injuries and high on environmental injuries; it had a low level of economic development, high alcohol consumption and a high proportion of Roman Catholics. Group 3 was high on social injuries and low on environmental injuries; it had a high level of economic development, low alcohol consumption and few Roman Catholics. Group 4 was low on both kinds of injuries; the independent variables formed a similar pattern to those of group 3. Conclusion: The pattern for traffic fatalities differs from that of suicides. There is also patterning with regard to structural factors; economic level, education and religion seem to be more important with regard to injury rate differentials than alcohol consumption or unemployment.