[The injured pedestrian in motor vehicle traffic accidents: mortality in Mexico, 1985-1996]

OBJECTIVE: To describe the mortality of pedestrians injured at motor vehicle traffic accidents (PIMVTA) in Mexico. METHODS: Analysis of death certificates registered in Mexico (1985-1996), identified by E codes of the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision. Mortality rates were stratified by age group. RESULTS: From 1985 to 1996, 60,566 deaths in PIMVTA (rate of 7.42/100,000) were registered: 78.1% in men (11.7/100,000), and 21.9% in women (3.2/100,000). The mortality increased in direct relationship to age, the general mortality trend lightly descending in both sexes, but more marked from the 80 and more years old. The higher rate was is observed for Jalisco (9.7/100,000) and the lower rate was for Coahuila (2.1/100,000). According to the location size, the mortality shows a bimodal distribution: higher for localities of 15.000 to 19.999 and 1,000,000 (8.0/100,000 and 8.2/100,000 person-years, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The deaths of PLATVM are presented, mainly, in men, their frequency is incremented with the age, they show a tendency lightly descending, and they are observed with greater frequency in urban centers