Elsevier

Annals of Epidemiology

Volume 16, Issue 4, April 2006, Pages 313-320
Annals of Epidemiology

A Cohort Study of Injuries in Migrant Farm Worker Families in South Texas

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2005.04.004Get rights and content

Purpose

This cohort study estimated the frequency of and risk factors for work injuries among migrant farmworker families over a two-year period.

Methods

The cohort consisted of 267 families. Bilingual interviewers asked mothers to respond for their family soliciting demographic, psychosocial, employment, and work-related injury information. Cox regression was used to examine risk factors for first injury events.

Results

Of the 267 families, nearly 60% migrated and 96% of these completed the follow-up interviews. These families represented about 310 individuals each year who had participated in farmwork on average 6 days a week, 10 hours a day, for 2.7 months in the past year. Twenty-five work-related injuries were reported with an overall rate of 12.5/100 FTE (95% C.I., 8.6–19.0). Working for a contractor increased the hazard ratio, and use of car seat belts and working for more than one employer during the season decreased it.

Conclusions

If person-time at risk for injuries is taken into account the reported injuries are substantial. Because the injuries were quite diverse, specific interventions may have to focus on improved working conditions (physical and economic), ergonomic modifications, and enhanced enforcement of existing regulations.

Section snippets

Background

Very little is known about occupational injuries, either fatal or nonfatal, in agriculture in general and in agriculture involving migrant farmworkers in particular. The reasons for the paucity of data include incomplete surveillance, inconsistencies in the definition of work, the absence of legal injury-reporting requirements for small farms (< 11 employees), self-employed farmers and unpaid family workers, and difficulties in defining injuries in this population 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. It is

Study Population

Starr County, Texas, with a population of 53,597 (25), is located on the Texas-Mexico border. Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent School District (RGCCISD) is the largest of three school districts in Starr County and includes nearly 60% of the students. More than 90% of its students are classified as economically disadvantaged (26). The Migrant Education Program in RGCCISD maintains files on migrant students through the New Generation System (NGS), a system to identify migrant students and

Descriptive Statistics

Of the 267 mothers in the cohort, 154 (57.7%) mothers migrated during year 1 and 143 (59.8%) during year 2 (including 32 mothers who did not migrate in year 1). Each year, approximately 96% of the mothers who migrated completed the follow-up survey. Of the 267 families, 100% were Hispanic and mothers had lived in Starr County for an average of 17 years. The average family size was 4.70 members (range 1–10). In year 1, 13 mothers (2 could not be located, 9 moved, and 2 died) were lost to follow

Discussion

This study involved several methodologic strengths and advanced our knowledge about injuries and injury reporting. A major contribution of this study was the ability to calculate acute nonfatal injury rates based on person-time at risk over 2 years and to examine risk factors utilizing Cox regression also requiring person-time at risk. The nature of farm work being sporadic and intense in work hours, as documented in this study, can be best accounted for with a person-time analysis. Our method

Conclusions

Collectively, this study adds to our previous work 41, 42, 43 with farmworkers and continues to demonstrate our ability to access, follow, and collect meaningful information from this previously understudied population. Our data support the need for primary data collection from young farmworkers, ascertainment of work histories to calculate person-time at risk, increased access to health and dental care, and development and implementation of school-based and/or community interventions. Because

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    This article was supported in part by NIOSH R01 OH04041 and Cooperative Agreement No. U50 OH07541 to the Southwest Center for Agricultural Health at The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler from CDC/NIOSH. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC/NIOSH.

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