Describing patterns of occupational agricultural deaths: The effect of case definition

When studying occupational agricultural injury death, it is necessary to use a case definition that includes occupational exposure in an agricultural environment. Of 504 total deaths identified using the three different definitions, only 36 cases were captured by all three. This study shows that using three different definitions (a.

Externally caused death with place listed as farm; b. Injury at Work box checked yes or unknown, agricultural industry or occupation, and external cause of death; and, c. E-code 919.0) similar demographic profiles are produced. However, the external cause, the location of the worker at time of injury, and the occupation of the injured varied depending upon the definition used.

If the goal is preventing all injury deaths related to agriculture, it may be necessary to consider a broad definition of occupational injury when analyzing death certificate data. It may be necessary to include deaths of people who were exposed (but not working with) agricultural hazards, in addition to only using deaths identified through the injury at work box.