Data processing and case identification in an agricultural and logging morbidity surveillance study: Trends over time

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Injury Surveillance
• Agricultural Safety
• Logging Safety

Background:

• Agriculture and logging are high-risk industries with limited data on non-fatal injuries.
• Establishing a robust non-fatal injury surveillance system is a critical public health priority.
• Pre-hospital care reports and hospitalization data offer a potential low-cost solution for ongoing occupational injury monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a low-cost surveillance system for tracking non-fatal occupational injuries in agriculture and logging.
• To assess the feasibility of using pre-hospital care reports and hospitalization data for injury surveillance.

Main Methods:

• A surveillance system was developed using free-text and location codes from pre-hospital care reports.
• Hospital ICD-9-CM external cause of injury codes were integrated into the system.
• The system was used to track farm and logging injuries in Maine and New Hampshire between 2008 and 2010.

Main Results:

• A total of 1585 injury events were identified during the study period.
• The incidence of injuries was 12.4 per 1000 for agricultural workers.
• The incidence of injuries ranged from 10.4 to 12.2 per 1000 for logging workers.

Conclusions:

• The developed surveillance system provides injury incidence estimates consistent with other studies.
• The system is limited to traumatic injuries requiring medical treatment and relies on coding accuracy.
• This sustainable and low-cost surveillance system demonstrates potential for ongoing monitoring of occupational injuries in high-risk industries.