Cow-related trauma: A 10-year review of injuries admitted to a single institution
Introduction
Large animal-related injury is common among farming communities, with 24% of farmers in one survey reporting livestock related injuries,10 and 1.7% large-livestock farmers reporting animal-related injury in one year.13 Although the majority of farming injuries (80%) are treated by the general practitioner,7 livestock-related trauma is frequently seen in regional hospitals and may be associated with serious injuries. No study has examined the spectrum of injuries associated with cow-related trauma. A retrospective study was performed to determine the nature and severity of injuries for patients admitted to a single regional hospital over 10 years following cow-related trauma.
Section snippets
Methods
Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda is a regional trauma centre for the north eastern region of Ireland. It serves a catchment area of 390,000, with an even urban and rural population divide.8 Statistics in this paper relate only to injuries caused directly by cattle, and exclude indirect injuries such as zoonoses and road accidents.
Using the Hospital Inpatient Coding system (HIPE), patients who were admitted to hospital following animal-related injury over a 10-year period were identified
Results
Fourty-seven patients were admitted to a single hospital following cow-related trauma over a 10-year period. 35 of patients were male. The age breakdown is seen in Fig. 1, and the mean age was 49.3 years old. 72% of patients were admitted under Orthopaedics as their primary care team, 25% under General Surgeons, with one patient admitted medically.
Farmers accounted for the majority of injuries (n = 36), but injuries to abattoir workers and vets totalled 8.6% and 6.3% respectively (Fig. 2).
Discussion
Bovine-related injuries represent a serious risk for rural communities. The prevalence of these injuries would appear to be under-reported. The reason for this may be three-fold: Firstly, rural general practitioners treat the majority of farming injuries, some which may not present to hospital. Secondly, there is to date no system either in A&E or Orthopaedic Trauma Clinic referrals for collating data regarding mechanism of injury. Finally, there is no specific coding system for strictly
Conclusion
Bovine-related trauma is common among farming communities. These injuries are under-reported, and frequently cause significant injuries. A full history should be taken, in particular to the mechanism of trauma. Patients admitted to hospital after sustaining injuries from cattle, in particular those injured by head-butting or trampling, should be treated as high-velocity trauma.
Conflict of interest statement
There are no conflicts of interest with this paper.
References (13)
- et al.
Injuries caused by animals
Injury
(1991) - et al.
Fatalities caused by nonvenomous animals: a ten-year summary from Sweden
Accid Anal Prev
(1989) - et al.
The injury severity score: a method for describing patients with multiple injuries and evaluating emergency care
J Trauma
(1974) - et al.
Evaluating trauma care: the TRISS method, Trauma Score and the Injury Severity Score
J Trauma
(1987) - et al.
Blunt bovine and equine trauma
J Trauma
(1986) Rating the severity of tissue damage: the Abbreviated Injury Scale
JAMA
(1971)
Cited by (39)
An Unusual Attack by a Blue Bull Resulting in Penetrating Horn Injuries
2022, Wilderness and Environmental MedicineCitation Excerpt :Surgical exploration with removal of foreign bodies and debris and wound irrigation is the standard of care.11 Despite the internal organ injuries and infection risk, the prognosis is favorable in most cases.13 In the present case, significant morbidity developed during a hospital stay, managed with surgery and appropriate medical care.
Agricultural Injury Surveillance Using a Regional Trauma Registry
2022, Journal of Surgical ResearchCitation Excerpt :For example, in a report by Nogalski et al., 95.7% of their cohort of farmers treated in a single facility in Poland had an ISS less than 9 and 77.6% had less than 3.38 Similarly, an article published by Murphy et al. included 47 patients treated at a single institution for cattle-related injuries in Ireland with a mean ISS of 6.9.39 Damroth et al. analyzed data from the National Trauma Data Bank and identified 5631 patients injured in farming activities, 42% of whom had ISS values less than 9.
An unsolved case in a culturally diverse community in Italy
2022, Forensic Science International: SynergyA national trauma data bank analysis of large animal-related injuries
2021, InjuryCitation Excerpt :Further research would be required to resolve this discrepancy. Even though cattle-related injuries made up only 8% of the total LARI in our study, they have a substantial impact on some communities, with 24% of farmers reporting cattle-related injuries in their lifetime [10]. Our bivariate analysis of riders vs. non-riders showed that riders were statistically more likely to have severe chest and spine injuries, whereas non-riders were more likely to have severe abdominal and face injuries (Table 2).
Bull horn injuries. A 40-year retrospective study with 572 patients
2021, American Journal of SurgeryOpportunities for improving the safety of dairy parlor workers
2021, Journal of Dairy ScienceCitation Excerpt :This finding aligned with the majority of injuries occurring in the extremities near the cluster—the hand, wrist, finger and arm and involving a bruise or soft-tissue injury, or a fracture, break, or dislocation. These injuries were consistent with being kicked by a cow, which was the most common reason for injury identified by Douphrate et al. (2009), Murphy et al. (2010), and Watts and Meisel (2011). Previous research has explored a support arm (Stål et al., 2003) and a quarter milking device (Jakob and Liebers, 2011; Jakob, 2019) to assist with cluster attachment; both reduced muscle load.