Fatal Unintentional Injuries Among Kentucky Farm Children: 1979 to 1985*

ABSTRACT: The hazards of farming among adults have been well described, but less has been published regarding the nature of farm injuries among children. Fatal farm injuries in Kentucky among children under 14 years of age usually have involved agricultural equipment, primarily tractors. The average annual age specific rates for fatal injuries in Kentucky among farm children ranged from 14.8 per 100,000 to 28.5 per 100,000 for boys, and from 11.8 per 100,000 to 3.1 per 100,000 for girls. Many of these deaths could have been prevented by not allowing children to ride on tractors, or by using infant and child restraints in motor vehicles. In the older age group (10 to 14 years of age), many deaths were due to drowning, so drowning prevention programs could reduce the number of fatal injuries. Exposure to environmental hazards differ for farm children and prevention programs in this population need to target those special hazards.     

A comparison of blood pressure, total cholesterol and cigarette smoking in parents in 1950 and their children in 1970.

Blood pressure and serum cholesterol levels as well as cigarette smoking are compared for parents who were examined in the Framingham Heart Study between 1948 and 1950 and their offspring who were studied in the early 1970s in the Framingham Offspring Study. For ages 30-49 years there are modest but significant differences in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure when mothers are compared to daughters, with the average pressures in the daughters being lower. Blood pressure differences in fathers and sons are not as large, and they disappear when families which include hypertensives are eliminated from the analysis. Total cholesterol levels were found to be significantly lower in both daughters and sons, but the difference was not large after adjusting for changes in methodology. The proportion of cigarette smokers was found to be substantially lower in the sons in all age groups, and modest reductions in cigarette smoking were also noted in all but the oldest (age 45--49 years) group of daughters.     

Nonfatal injuries among US children with disabling conditions

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the risk of nonfatal injury in US children with disabilities. Disability was defined as a long-term reduction in the ability to conduct social role activities, such as school or play, because of a chronic physical or mental condition. METHODS: Among 57 909 children aged 5-17 years who participated in the 2000-2002 National Health Interview Survey, we identified 312 children with vision/hearing disabilities, 711 with mental retardation, 603 with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD/HD), and 403 with chronic asthma. We compared nonfatal injuries in the past 3 months between children with disabling conditions and those without using injury rates and logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Compared with children without a disability, a higher percentage of children with disabilities reported nonfatal injuries (4.2% for vision disability, 3.2% for mental retardation, 4.5% for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and 5.7% for asthma vs 2.5% for healthy children). After we controlled for confounding effects of sociodemographic variables, children with disabilities, with the exception of mental retardation, had a statistically significantly higher injury risk than those without disabling conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Children with a disabling condition from vision/hearing disability, ADD/HD, or chronic asthma had a significantly higher risk for nonfatal injuries compared with children without a disabling condition. These data underscore the need to promote injury control and prevention programs targeting children with disabilities.     

Effectiveness of the HomeSafe Pilot Program in reducing injury rates among residential construction workers, 1994-1998

BACKGROUND: The construction industry typically has one of the highest fatal and non-fatal injury rates compared with other industries. Residential construction workers are at particular risk of injury (work is in remote sites with small crews, there are often many subcontractors, and they have limited access to safety programs). Difficulty accessing information specific to this group has made research more challenging, therefore, there are few studies. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the HomeSafe Pilot Program, a safety education and training program designed to reduce injuries among residential construction workers. METHODS: Researchers evaluated whether overall and severe injury incidence rates declined during the intervention period. Data were analyzed using incidence rates and Poisson regression to control for the effect of antecedent secular trend. RESULTS: Injury incidence rates declined significantly following HomeSafe; however, this effect was not statistically significant once temporal variation was controlled. CONCLUSIONS: The decline in injury rates following HomeSafe cannot be attributed solely to HomeSafe, however, programmatic and methodologic limitations contributed to the inconclusive results. Further research into the hazards faced by residential construction workers is needed. Am. J. Ind. Med. 45:210-217, 2004.     

Pesticide illness, farm practices, and neurological symptoms among farm residents in Colorado

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association between pesticides and neurological symptoms among a population exposed to organophosphate chemicals as a result of agricultural use. Chronic sequelae of acute pesticide poisoning from organophosphate compounds include a variety of neurological symptoms including restlessness, irritability, and trouble sleeping. Individuals who have had an acute pesticide poisoning have been reported to suffer a wide range of neurological symptoms that occur from weeks to months after the initial episode. Data for this study came from a cross-sectional survey of farmers and their spouses conducted in an eight-county area in north-eastern Colorado. Neurological characteristics were assessed to determine their relationship with previously reported pesticide-related illnesses. Symptoms that were significantly associated with a previous poisoning were difficulty concentrating [OR 2.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22, 3.50]; relatives noticing person had trouble remembering things (OR 2.54, 95% CI 1.47, 4.39); making notes to remember things (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.20, 3.97); finding it hard to understand the meaning of newspapers, magazines, and books (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.01, 3.60); felt irritable (OR 1.84, 95% CI 1.08, 3.12); felt depressed (OR 2.82, 95% CI 1.65, 4.81); had heart palpitations without exertion (OR 2.83, 95% CI 1.22, 6.54); sleeping more than usual (OR 3.58, 95% CI 1.95, 6.58); difficulty moving fingers or grasping things (OR 2.08, 95% CI 1.06, 3.24); and headaches at least once a week (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.06, 3.24). Stepwise regression was used to identify the best explanatory model of pesticide-related illness. Variables that were associated with increased odds of illness were being male, being depressed, sleeping too much, and using crop organophosphates.