Risk factors for injury in rural Iowa: Round one of the Keokuk County Rural Health Study

doi:10.1016/S0749-3797(00)00316-0

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Volume 20, Issue 3, April 2001, Pages 230-233

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(00)00316-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

Background: Unintentional injuries represent a major cause of morbidity and mortality in rural communities. This study aimed to determine the distribution of injury risk factors in a rural Iowa community and to identify the rural subgroups at highest risk for injury.

Methods: We reported on 1583 participants, aged ≥25 years, from Round One of the Keokuk County Rural Health Study, a longitudinal panel study of a rural community. The self-reported data were collected during face-to-face interviews.

Results: Our data suggested that several risk factors for injury are not uniformly distributed among rural populations. Male farmers were significantly less likely to wear their seatbelts than townspeople or rural nonfarmers. However, farm women were as likely to wear seatbelts as other women. Both male and female farmers were more likely to use all-terrain vehicles than townspeople or rural nonfarmers. In contrast, townspeople were more likely to ride bicycles than either farmers or rural nonfarmers. Townspeople were less likely to have firearms in their homes than either farmers or rural nonfarmers. Farmers were most likely to have fired a gun in the last year. Male farmers aged <65 years were less than half as likely as other men the same age to report a history of alcohol abuse. Binge drinking was equally frequent among farmers, rural nonfarmers, and townspeople.

Conclusions: These differences in risk behavior in a rural county suggest the possibility of targeting specific rural injury prevention interventions at those with the highest risk for dangerous behavior.

Introduction

U nintentional injuries represent a major cause of morbidity and mortality in rural communities. From national mortality data, Baker et al.1, 2 have shown that a wide variety of fatal, unintentional injuries are more common in rural than in urban communities. In Iowa, unintentional injury rates were highest in counties with populations <10,000.3

Despite the high risk of unintentional injuries in rural communities, little attention has been paid to the distribution of injury risk factors in rural communities or to identifying the rural subgroups at highest risk for injury. Here we present the prevalence of risky behaviors among farmers, rural nonfarmers, and townspeople using data from the first round of the Keokuk County Rural Health Study, a population-based, longitudinal study of a rural Iowa county.

Section snippets

Data

Here we reported on the 1583 adults aged ≥25 years from Round One of the Keokuk County Rural Health Study, a longitudinal panel study of a rural community described elsewhere.4 This report focused primarily on the distribution of injury risk factors among members of farm households (those living on a farm), rural nonfarm households (those not living in town or on a farm), and town households (those living in incorporated towns). In presenting our data, we stratified by gender and age. Table 1

Seatbelts

A lower percentage of farmers (47.5%) reported always using seatbelts when driving than did rural nonfarmers (55.9%) or townspeople (57.1%). However, Table 2 demonstrates that seatbelt usage patterns differed by age and gender. Among women, there were no statistically significant differences in seatbelt usage among farm, rural nonfarm, and town women. Among men, the differences were clear. Men who lived in town and rural nonfarm men were more likely to report wearing their seatbelts than were

Discussion

Although others8 have commented on the high prevalence of behavioral risk factors for injury among rural populations, this study is the first to consider the distribution of these risky behaviors among different segments of the rural population. Using self-reported data from the Keokuk County Rural Health Study, we compared the prevalence of high-risk behavior among farmers, rural nonfarmers, and townspeople. For some risk factors, such as binge drinking, we found no significant differences

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by a cooperative agreement from The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (U07/CCU 706145-08) and a grant from The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (R49/CCR 703640-10). The authors thank the staff of the Keokuk County Rural Health Study who collected the data.

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Brief reportRisk factors for injury in rural Iowa: Round one of the Keokuk County Rural Health Study

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Data

Seatbelts

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Environ Res

Geographic variations in mortality for motor vehicle crashes

N Engl J Med

The Keokuk County Rural Health Studymethodology and demographics

J Agromed

The CAGE questionnaire validation of a new alcoholism screening instrument

Am J Psychiatry

An injury control strategy for rural North Carolina

N C Med J

Brief report
Risk factors for injury in rural Iowa: Round one of the Keokuk County Rural Health Study