Elsevier

Injury

Volume 41, Issue 5, May 2010, Pages 548-550
Injury

Cow-related trauma: A 10-year review of injuries admitted to a single institution

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2009.08.006Get rights and content

Abstract

Introduction

Bovine-related injuries to farmers are common in rural communities. Many injuries are significant requiring hospital admission and surgery. We reviewed all cattle-related injuries admitted to a regional trauma centre over 10 years and detail the nature of the injuries.

Method

A retrospective review was undertaken, using hospital inpatient coding system (HIPE) to identify patients admitted following cow-related trauma for the last 10 years. From retrieved charts mechanism of injury was identified, demographics recorded and Injury Severity Score (ISS) and Trauma Injury Severity Score (TRISS) calculated based on the injuries sustained.

Results

47 patients were identified, with a median age of 53 years. 4 injuries occurred in children, and 12 in patients over 65 years old. Three-quarters of those injured were male. Kicking was the most common mechanism of injury (n = 21), but charge/head-butt injuries and trampling injuries were associated with more serious injury scores. 72% of patients were admitted under Orthopaedics as their primary care team, 25% under General Surgeons, with one patient admitted medically. Mean ISS score was 6.9 (range 1–50). 41 operative interventions were performed on 30 patients during their admission. 6.3% of patients required admission to Intensive Care with a mean length of stay of 12.3 days (range 2–21 days). There was no mortality.

Conclusion

Cow-related trauma is a common among farming communities and is a potentially serious mechanism of injury that appears to be under-reported in a hospital context. Bovine-related head-butt and trampling injuries should be considered akin to high-velocity trauma.

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)

  • U. Björnstig et al.

    Injuries caused by animals

    Injury

    (1991)
  • L. Ornehult et al.

    Fatalities caused by nonvenomous animals: a ten-year summary from Sweden

    Accid Anal Prev

    (1989)
  • S.P. Baker et al.

    The injury severity score: a method for describing patients with multiple injuries and evaluating emergency care

    J Trauma

    (1974)
  • C.R. Boyd et al.

    Evaluating trauma care: the TRISS method, Trauma Score and the Injury Severity Score

    J Trauma

    (1987)
  • H.M. Busch et al.

    Blunt bovine and equine trauma

    J Trauma

    (1986)
  • Committee on Medical Aspects of Automotive Safety

    Rating the severity of tissue damage: the Abbreviated Injury Scale

    JAMA

    (1971)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (39)

  • An Unusual Attack by a Blue Bull Resulting in Penetrating Horn Injuries

    2022, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine
    Citation 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 Research
    Citation 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: Synergy
  • A national trauma data bank analysis of large animal-related injuries

    2021, Injury
    Citation 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).

  • Opportunities for improving the safety of dairy parlor workers

    2021, Journal of Dairy Science
    Citation 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.

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text