Farm Machinery Injuries: The 15-Year Experience at an Urban Joint Trauma Center System in a Rural State

Farm machinery is a major source of injury. The objective of this study is to characterize the incidence, injury characteristics, and outcomes of patients admitted with farm machinery injuries (FMIs) to an urban joint trauma system in a rural state. A retrospective 15-year review of the trauma registries of the two trauma centers that function as a single state-designated Level I joint trauma center system was conducted. There were 65 admissions for FMIs at hospital A and 41 at hospital B; this represents under 0.4% of total trauma admissions. The patients ranged in age from 2 to 87 years. At hospital A, 89% of admitted patients sustained extremity injuries, 16% sustained torso trauma, 92% required surgical intervention, and the mortality rate was 0%. At hospital B, 60% of admitted patients sustained extremity injuries, 36.6% of patients sustained torso trauma, 63% required surgical intervention, and the mortality rate was 14.6%. Tractor-related injuries were responsible for 17% of admissions at hospital A and 69% at hospital B. Of the six fatalities, five were tractor related. The data demonstrate that FMIs affect people in nearly all decades of life. FMIs at the two hospitals had differing injury characteristics and outcomes, in large part secondary to the differing frequency of tractor-related injuries. FMIs frequently required surgical intervention.