Cattle associated trauma – A one year prospective study of all injuries
Introduction
The purpose of our study was to prospectively evaluate all injuries caused by direct contact with cattle presenting to a hospital Emergency Department (ED). Whilst serious injury and deaths have been reported in the literature, less severe injuries may occur more frequently but have not previously been studied. Cattle are large, strong animals and can be unpredictable in their behaviour. Beef cattle may weigh over 400 kg,2 and can cause serious injury to humans. One study that retrospectively analysed all animal related injuries presenting to a single institution found that whilst cattle only accounted for 5% of total injuries, they accounted for 55% of total hospitalizations.13 Another series from the United States showed that of the over 6000 farming related injuries sustained by youth in a single year, cattle accounted for 31%.8
Beef and dairy farming are important industries in New Zealand, and represent a significant economic activity and provider of employment. As of June 2009 there were an estimated 5.9 million dairy and 4.1 million beef cattle in New Zealand. Cattle numbers have recently increased significantly in the Southland Region and in 2009 there were an estimated 589,000 dairy and 191,000 beef cattle.1 In the year to December 2008 dairy exports were worth over NZ$8 billion (US$6 billion) and beef exports more than NZ$2 billion (US$1.5 billion).
We have been aware of injuries related to cattle over the past years, including the occasional serious trauma. For this reason we decided to prospectively evaluate this little studied area. The study received prior approval by the Otago Southland Regional Ethics Committee under the expedited review of observational studies pathway.
Section snippets
Methods
We prospectively studied all patients attending the ED of Southland Hospital who had been injured by contact with cattle over the period of one calendar year from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2009. The one year period of the study was chosen in view of the seasonal nature of dairy and beef farming, as activities related to this, and hence injuries may vary according to the season. Southland Hospital is the sole major secondary care facility in the Southland region and serves an urban
Results
Over the one year period of the study 78 patient presentations were identified as injuries occurring whilst working with cattle and consented to be included in the study. Whilst there were 78 presentations, this represented 73 individual patients, as five patients presented on two separate occasions for different injuries. Demographics of the study population are shown in Table 1. Just over two-thirds of the injured patients (68%) were males and nearly one-third (32%) were females. The average
Discussion
We prospectively studied all injuries associated with cattle handling in a defined area over a one year period. As previous studies have documented, these injuries included potentially serious injuries to the trunk and head. We also noted that there were many less serious injuries and that a significant number of these injuries were to the hand and wrist, a body region not previously noted to be at risk when working with cattle. Most of these injuries occurred during the milking of dairy cattle.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest related to this research and this paper.
Acknowledgements
This study received support in the form of data tabulation, research and assistance provided by a research assistant funded by the Southland Medical Research Foundation. Thanks also to Dr. Adam McLeay for proof reading the original submission.
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