Occupational Injury and Disease Incidence and Risk Factors in Finnish Agriculture Based on 5-Year Insurance Records

ABSTRACT

The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to evaluate the incidence of and risk factors for compensated occupational injuries and diseases in agriculture. The study population consisted of 78,679 Finnish farmers, spouses, and salaried family members covered by mandatory workers' compensation insurance. This population had a total of 24,424 occupational injuries and 1684 diseases from 2000 to 2004. In the 5-year period, 20.2% of the population had (one or more) injuries and 2.0% had occupational diseases. Multiple claims were common particularly among livestock producers. Using Poisson regression analyses, we identified several personal and farm-related risk factors, with relative risk estimates ranging from 1.07 to 3.08 for injuries and from 1.45 to 3.01 for diseases. Cattle-intensive geographic regions, occupational health service membership, large farm size, and farming alone were identified as risk factors for both outcomes. Further, male gender, higher number of insurance years, and residing on the farm were among risk factors for injury. These risk factors identified from a large longitudinal data set can be considered for developing and targeting interventions for farmers at highest risk of occupational injury and disease.

Keywords:

• Agriculture
• cohort study
• compensated claim
• disease
• farmer
• gender
• injury
• insurance
• livestock
• occupational
• Poisson regression
• risk factor

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Finnish Farmers' Social Insurance Institution, which also provided staff support in the conduct of this study. Janne Karttunen was supported by a personal grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.