A nested case-control study of agriculture-related injuries among farmers in Ohio.

摘要

case-control study was conducted to investigate risk factors for farm-related occupational injury among Ohio farm operators. Cases were selected from a sample of 1,793 respondents to a questionnaire administered as the first phase of the Ohio Farm Family Health Study (OFFHS).;Initial analyses consisted of description of the injury experience of the sample as a whole. Description was followed by logistic estimation of prevalence odds ratios (ORs) measuring the effect of putative risk factors on injury risk. A limited case series consisted of 90 white, male principal operators (POs) injured doing farm work in the previous 12 months, and an expanded case series consisted of the original 90 POs with an additional 28 injured white males working on the farm. Controls consisted of 1,475 white, male POs who reported no injuries.;Most of the 235 injuries reported for the sample as a whole were not serious, but the average PO missed 12 work days after an injury. Injuries were most commonly associated with agricultural machinery, and were most frequently strains and sprains, particularly to the back.;Age was found to be important as a risk factor, with younger operators being particularly at risk. The crude ORs went from 1.38 in the 60-69 age-group to 3.81 in those operators under 30. Using the expanded case series, this trend was even more pronounced with the younger operators having an OR of 11.44. The test for trend was statistically significant in both sets of analyses.;Divorced operators had a crude OR of 1.72 (95% CI = 0.60, 4.93) when compared to all others. College graduates were found to have a higher risk when compared to all others (OR=1.61, 95% CI = 0.96, 2.71). Farmers who reported drinking more than 230 alcoholic beverages in the past year had a crude OR of 1.63 (95% CI = 0.88, 3.01) and those who reported ever use of tobacco other than cigarettes had an OR of 1.44 (95% CI = 0.91, 2.28). The most notable result is the relationship between self-reported neurotoxic symptoms and injury. The crude OR, when compared to the reference score of