We aimed to investigate the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and its associated agricultural work-related, biomechanical factors among this population. We analyzed initial survey data from the Safety for Agricultural Injury of Farmers cohort study involving adult farmers in Jeju Island. The prevalence of LBP was calculated with associated factors. In total, 1,209 participants were included in the analysis. The overall prevalence of LBP was 23.7%. Significant associations for LBP were the type of farming activity, length of farming career, prior agricultural injury within 1 year, and stress levels. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed three biomechanical factors significantly related to LBP: repetitive use of particular body parts; the inappropriate posture of the lower back and neck. Some occupational, and biomechanical risk factors contribute to LBP. Therefore, postural education, injury prevention education, and psychological support will be needed to prevent LBP.
1 August 2016 in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine
Objective This study aimed to determine whether there is a difference in mortality and medical resource utilization between geriatric (aged >= 65 years) and super-geriatric patients (aged >= 80 years) with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods We obtained comprehensive data (demographics, injury characteristics, injury severities, and outcomes) of geriatric and super-geriatric TBI patients from an emergency departmentbased injury surveillance system database from 2011 to 2016. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to compare the mortality and nonroutine discharge (NRDC) status between both groups. Results Among 442,533 TBI patients, 48,624 were older than 65 years. A total of 48,446 patients (37,140 geriatric and 11,306 super-geriatric) without exclusion criteria were included in the final analysis. Both overall in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio, 1.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.28 to 2.74; P = 0.001) and NRDC (adjusted odds ratio, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.71; P = 0.011) were significantly higher in the super-geriatric group. In the stratified analysis, there were no significant differences in NRDC rate for all stratifications of treatment timing (emergency department vs. ward admission), but mortality remained to be significant for all stratifications. Conclusion Super-geriatric TBI patients showed a significantly higher risk-adjusted overall mortality and more inadequate medical resource utilization than did geriatric TBI patients. However, super-geriatric patients were more likely to undergo NRDC after admission; thus, further research about age-related health inequalities is needed in the treatment of super-geriatric patients.