CHILDHOOD AGRICULTURAL INJURY PREVENTION INITIATIVE

Childhood Injuries in Washington State Agriculture

Project Title: Childhood Injuries in Washington State Agriculture

Principal Investigator: Bruce Alexander, Ph.D.

Affiliation: University of Washington

City & State: Seattle, Washington

Grant Number: 1 R01 CCR014332-01

Start & End Dates: 09/30/97 – 09/29/00

Abstract:

Children and adolescents living and working in agricultural environments interact with one of the most hazardous occupational environments, however the distribution and determinants of pediatric agricultural injuries have not been adequately characterized.

The proposed investigation will use case-control and case-crossover designs to evaluate determinants of agricultural injuries in children and adolescents in the Yakima River Valley of Washington State. The principal objectives of this study are to (1) enumerate and describe a series of agriculture related pediatric injuries treated at five emergency departments, three farm worker clinics and one large pediatrics practice in the valley; (2) compare the cases to suitable neighborhood controls with respect to the child’s age, gender, size, work history, recent activities, the activity at the time of injury, indicators of fatigue, school performance, and time lost from school or work for the child or parent; (3) to evaluate the effect of transient exposures, including indicators of fatigue, work tasks, or activities, on the risk of injury in a case_crossover analysis.

The injury cases will be prospectively identified by routinely reviewing records at the participating emergency departments and clinics. The children or adolescents with agriculture related injuries, and their parent or guardian, will be recruited to participate in the study. Two non-injured children, matched on age and the injured child’s relationship to the agriculture environment will be selected as controls from neighboring residences. The injured and non_injured children and their parents or guardians will be interviewed to collect information relating to the injury, the child and the parent.

Ultimately the results of this investigation should contribute significantly toward directing future injury prevention efforts in pediatric populations living and working agricultural environments.