The association between parents' past agricultural injuries and their children's risk of injury: analyses from the Regional Rural Injury Study-II.

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between parents' and children's agricultural injuries in a cohort of farming and ranching households. DESIGN: Analyses from a population-based, nested case-control study. SETTING: The 1999 Regional Rural Injury Study-II, involving a cohort of 3765 agricultural households. Demographic, injury, and exposure data were collected for household members for 1 year. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 203 injured children (cases) and 755 randomly selected control children were identified for the study. MAIN EXPOSURE: Children's risk of injury was estimated in reference to individual and combined parental injury experience. Two periods were evaluated, separately and in combination. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by using logistic regression; directed acyclic graphs guided selection of potential confounders. RESULTS: When controlling for potential confounders, children whose fathers were injured before the study year had twice the risk of injury of those whose fathers were not injured (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.5-3.0). Children had increased risk of injury if their mothers were injured before the study (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.7-3.8) or during the study (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 0.9-4.2). Children whose parents both reported agricultural injuries before the study had a 4-fold increase in injury risk over those with neither parent injured (OR, 4.2; 95% CI, 2.6-6.9). CONCLUSIONS: Positive associations between parents' and children's injuries were observed, with a potential additive effect if both parents were injured. These results indicate a need for further research into the social and/or physical environments driving these associations so that appropriate interventions for pediatric injury can be determined.

Asthma among rural Minnesota adolescents.

This study examined the prevalence of and risk factors for wheezing and asthma in rural Minnesota adolescents. A survey querying about wheezing, asthma, farm residence, and other respiratory-related factors was administered to all 9th to 11th grade students (N = 13,490) in a stratified, random sample of high schools in rural Minnesota. Nearly one in 8 (12.6%) students reported ever-diagnosed asthma, and 9.2% reported current asthma. Students living on farms reported less wheezing and asthma than rural non-farm students. Obesity and smoking were associated with wheezing and asthma in all rural adolescents. Asthma rates increased with age among girls and may be largely accounted for by simultaneous increases in smoking rates. Despite the apparent protective effect of farm residence, asthma remains a significant public health issue among rural Minnesota adolescents.