American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol 152, Issue 7 640-650, Copyright © 2000 by Oxford University Press
G McGwin Jr, R Enochs and JM Roseman
Research on the epidemiology of agriculture-related injuries has largely
ignored African-Americans and farm workers. This cohort study is the first
to estimate injury rates and to evaluate prospectively risk factors for
agriculture-related injuries and compare them among African-American and
Caucasian farmers and African-American farm workers. A total of 1,246
subjects (685 Caucasian owners, 321 African- American owners, and 240
African-American workers) from Alabama and Mississippi were selected from
Agricultural Statistics Services databases and other sources and were
enrolled between January 1994 and June 1996. Baseline data included
detailed demographic, farm and farming, and behavioral information. From
January 1994 to April 1998, subjects were contacted biannually to ascertain
the occurrence of an agriculture-related injury. Injury rates were 2.9
times (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.0, 4.3) higher for African-American
farm workers compared with Caucasian and African-American owners. Part-time
farming (relative risk (RR) = 2.0, 95% CI: 1.3, 2.5), prior agricultural
injury (RR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.0, 2.1), and farm machinery in fair/poor
condition (RR = 1.8, 95% CI: 1.2, 2.7) were also independently associated
with injury rates. The results demonstrate the increased frequency of
agricultural injury among farm workers and identify a number of possible
ways of reducing them.
ARTICLES
Increased risk of agricultural injury among African-American farm workers from Alabama and Mississippi
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 35294-0009, USA. mcgwin@eyes.uab.edu
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