The relationship of farm residency status to demographic and service characteristics of agricultural injury victims in central Wisconsin.

This study performed a surveillance of a defined population in central Wisconsin during a two-year period that included six months of follow-up. The study included those who worked and lived on farms and those who only worked on farms. The injury rate for farm residents was 3.15 injuries per 100 persons per year. However, 195 of the 510 injuries (38.2%) involved persons who were not farm residents. For nonfarm residents, 88.7 percent of the victims were male, whereas for farm residents 79 percent of the victims were male. More than one half of the farm residents who were injured were the owners and an additional 21 percent were juvenile children. Of those aged 18 to 29 years, 51.3 percent were nonfarm resident victims and 15.2 percent were farm resident victims. Of nonfarm residents, 41.1 percent were married; of farm residents, 65.3 percent were married. More than one half of all injured nonfarm residents were seen within two hours of injury while one quarter of the injured farm residents were seen more than 24 hours after the injury. Only 4 percent of the injured farm residents were self-insured, but 15 percent of the nonfarm residents were self-insured. However, the time of injury, actual injuries, diagnoses rendered, and services received were similar for injured farm residents and injured nonfarm residents. Effective attempts to intervene on agricultural injuries will need to consider different risk factors for injuries for nonfarm residents as compared to farm residents.