Surveillance of Agricultural Injuries in Central Wisconsin: Epidemiologic Characteristics*

We implemented a hospital‐based agricultural injury surveillance System in central Wisconsin in November 1986. The geographic area of the study is heavily agricultural, with a predominance of dairy farmers. This report describes the epidemiologic characteristics of the 913 patients seen during the first two years of the surveillance System. The majority of patients were male (77%), between the ages of 19 and 65 years of age (68.4%), and either the owner/operator of the farm (42.4%), or the spouse of the owner/operator (10.5%). Falls accounted for the greatest number of injuries in children younger than 16 years of age and in those older than age 65, while animals were the most frequent cause of injury in those between the ages of 16 and 65 years. Injuries were most likely to occur in the months of June, July, and August, which together accounted for 37 percent of the total number of injuries. Despite the limitations of the descriptive data derived front surveillance Systems, such information may be useful for determining the magnitude of a health problem and suggesting hypotheses to account for the apparent distribution of disease and injury.