JOURNAL OF AGING AND HEALTH / February 1999 Xiang et al. / NONFATAL AGRICULTURAL INJURIES Nonfatal Agricultural Injuries Among Colorado Older Male Farmers HUIYUN XIANG, MD, MPH LORANN STALLONES, MPH, PhD YALIN CHIU, BS Colorado State University Objectives: This study described characteristics and potential risk factors for nonfatal agricultural injuries among older male farmers age 60 years and older in Colorado. Methods: A telephone survey was conducted among 113 older male farmers between 1993 and 1995. Agricultural injuries and potential risk factors were evaluated. Results: A total of 27 injuries were sustained. The leading external cause of injuries was livestock, and most of the injuries affected lower and upper extremities of the body. Injured farmers were more likely to be persons who had gone deeply into debt or who were using prescription medications. Discussion: Older farmers are at risk of injuries. The study results support the need to consider physical limitations of aging in developing prevention programs in agriculture. The 1992 U.S. Census of Agriculture indicated that farmers in the United States were getting older, with an average age approaching 55 years (Ford, Walson, & Owens, 1997; Grisso, Schwartz, & Wishner, 1990; Zwerling et al., 1996). Farm safety experts contended that this creates special problems (Ford et al., 1997). Even though injuries are the leading causes of morbidity and death among older people in the United States (Grisso et al., 1990; Zwerling et al., 1995; Zwerling et al., 1996), injury prevention for older people has not been given the AUTHORS’NOTE: Funding for the study came from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cooperative Agreement (No. U04/CCU806060). We gratefully acknowledge the Survey Research Unit of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for data collection and data entry. Reprints can be obtained from Lorann Stallones, MPH, PhD, Professor and Director, Colorado Injury Control Research Center, Department of Environmental Health, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1676; phone: 970-491-6156; e-mail: loranns@cvmbs.colostate.edu. JOURNAL OF AGING AND HEALTH, Vol. 11 No. 1, February 1999 65-78 © 1999 Sage Publications, Inc. 65