Incidence and cost of injury among youth in agricultural settings, United States, 2001-2006

Abstract

Objective: Estimate the annual US incidence and cost of fatal and nonfatal youth injury in agricultural settings.

Methods: We used 2001-2006 Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey data to estimate the incidence of nonfatal injury and 2001-2006 Multiple Cause of Death data to estimate the incidence of fatal injury. To estimate the costs for injuries suffered by youth working/living in agricultural settings, we multiplied the number of injuries times published unit costs by body part, nature of injury, and age group.

Results: An average of 26 655 agricultural injury incidents occurred annually to youth (ages 0-19) in the United States during the period 2001-2006 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 24 263-29 046). These injuries cost society an estimated $1.423 billion per year in 2005 dollars (95% CI: $1.333 billion-$1.513 billion). Fatalities alone cost an estimated $420 million per year. Work related injuries annually cost $347 million or 24.4% of the total cost (95% CI: 20.3%-28.5%). Most agricultural youth injuries were not work related.

Conclusions: We found that, similarly to adult agricultural injuries, youth agricultural injuries tend to be more severe and more costly than nonagricultural injuries. Only 1.4% of injured youth in the United States were hospitalized in 2000, but 14% of youth injured in agriculture were hospitalized in 2001-2006. To address this serious problem, prevention should focus on better controlling both child access to agricultural recreational activities and child assignment to agricultural work tasks that exceed developmental norms.