TO ASSESS MAGNITUDE AND PROFILE OF TRAUMATIC AGRICULTURAL INJURY CASES ATTENDING A TERTIARY CARE INSTITUTION SITUATED IN A RURAL AREA

Yogesh Aggarwal; Anurag Chhabra; Ashok Kumar; Vivek Yadav; Krishan Kumar

Volume : X, Issue : IV, April - 2020

TO ASSESS MAGNITUDE AND PROFILE OF TRAUMATIC AGRICULTURAL INJURY CASES ATTENDING A TERTIARY CARE INSTITUTION SITUATED IN A RURAL AREA

Yogesh Aggarwal, Anurag Chhabra, Ashok Kumar, Vivek Yadav, Krishan Kumar

Abstract :

Introduction: Agricultural injuries are major cause of morbidity and mortality. The usual causes of agricultural injuries are fodder cutter, thresher, tractor and other agriculture related machine & hand tools. Increased use of farm machinery along with other agricultural inputs has enhanced the production and productivity of Indian farms. Simultaneously it has also increased occupational health hazard on the farms. The present study was conducted to assess magnitude and profile of traumatic agriculture injury cases in a tertiary care institution situated in a rural area. Methods: All patients of acute trauma including agricultural injury admitted to a tertiary care hospital from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018 were included in the study. A total of 303 cases of agriculture injuries were studied. Information was collected through pre– tested questionnaire proforma and collected data was entered into an electronic database. The data was analyzed statistically in SPSS version 20.0 software. Injuries more than 12 hour and non traumatic agriculture injuries were excluded. Results: During one year period a total 2591 number acute trauma cases came to accident and emergency department out of which 303 (11.69 %) cases were of agriculture injury. Maximum (n= 98, 32.34 %) agriculture injury cases were in the age group of 30–45 years & there were 246 males (81.18 %) and 57 (18.81) female patients. Maximum patient came in the month of April (12.87%) and May (9.90%). Maximum (n=198, 65.35%) were injured in the time period 12pm– 8pm. Maximum (n=71, 23.43%) agricultural injuries were tractor related followed by fodder cutter (n=66, 21.78%). Upper limb injury was most common (n=176, 57.14%) followed by lower limb injury (n=93, 30.19%). Conclusion: Farm mechanization along with increased application of other new agriculture machines & inputs, has increased the productivity of Indian farms but it has also tremendously increased agriculture injuries. There are multiple risk factors involved in it. Prevention of these injuries can be done by engineering safe machines, education of farm workers and enforcement of law for certain dangerous machines.