Case-Control Study of Consequences of Injuries among Youth and Burden on Agricultural Operations

Children/youths, as well as adults, are at risk of injury on agricultural operations where occupational and residential environments overlap. This study was conducted to determine the short- and long-term physical, psychosocial, and economic consequences of injuries occurring among children/youths living in households with agricultural operations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska – Midwestern states characteristic of major types of agricultural production in the United States (US). From a random selection of 32,000 agricultural operations, generated from the states' operations by the US Department of Agriculture, 1,474 of 3,443 eligible households with children participated. Baseline and follow-up data on physical and mental health, agricultural and other injury disability, and economic status, were collected by trained interviewers using computerized assisted telephone interview (CATI) data collection instruments; two six-month injury data collection periods followed baseline collection. Among all household members, a total of 584 injuries were incurred with 250 related to their own agricultural operation. Respective child/youth case and control households, identified for these two six-month periods were: 1) 100 cases (122 Injuries), 366 controls; 2) 115 cases (138 injuries), 414 controls. Follow-up evaluation data were collected annually for each set, for the subsequent two years. Analyses focus on short-/long-term consequences, by examining changes between baseline, and follow-up data, comparing case and control households. Confounders are selected for multiple logistic regression analyses using directed acyclic graphs; reweighting adjusts for response and eligibility biases. This effort addresses a serious deficiency in knowledge about the burden of agricultural and other injury consequences.