Elsevier

Injury

Volume 34, Issue 12, December 2003, Pages 897-900
Injury

Factors affecting the severity of horse-related injuries

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0020-1383(03)00054-8Get rights and content

Abstract

Horse riding and handling are uniquely dangerous. Knowledge of the risk factors of horse-related injuries is essential to prevent them. We aimed to define the factors that affect the severity of horse-related injuries and the length of hospital stay. A number of 231 patients (136 females and 95 males) with horse-related injuries were studied. A generalized linear model was used to test the effect of age, sex, cause of injury, complexity of the mechanism of injury, year, place of injury and profession of the injured, on the injury severity score (ISS) and the hospital stay.

Fall from a horse was the most common cause of injury (67%). Most of the patients were non-professional (153, 66%). Females were significantly younger than males (P<0.001, t-test). Statistical analysis showed that the primary mechanism of injury (F=2.73, P=0.014) and the complexity of this mechanism (F=4.47, P=0.013) significantly affected the duration of hospital stay. None of the studied variables affected the injury severity score. The mechanism of the horse-related injuries and their complexity significantly affected the duration of hospital stay but not the injury severity score.

Introduction

There are numerous sports, recreational, leisure and work activities that are related to horses. At least 3 million people in the UK and 30 million people in the US ride horses [4], [8]. Different studies have tried to analyse the injury pattern and define factors that affect horse-related injuries. It has been suggested that young females who are inexperienced in horse riding are more prone for these injuries [3], [4]. It has also been advised that safety devices such as special helmets, hand gloves and especially shoes should be used to reduce these injuries [3], [6], [12]. The knowledge of risk factors associated with horse-related injuries is useful in preventing them [9].

The authors are not aware of any study that has defined the severity of horse-related injuries and determined the factors that affect them. This study aimed to define the factors that affect the injury severity score (ISS) and duration of the hospital stay following horse-related injuries.

Section snippets

Patients and methods

Records of patients who had horse-related injury between July 1994 and June 2000 were collected from the prospective Trauma Registry database of Royal Perth Hospital. Methods of data collection and registry have been recently published [1]. Royal Perth Hospital is the major hospital that treats trauma patients in WA. It has a catchment population of 1.8 million. Horse-related injury was defined as an injury that was caused by the horse or horse-related sports. Patients who were dealing with

Results

A number of 231 patients were studied (136 females (58.9%) and 95 males (41.1%)). The patients sustained 447 injuries, which affected 303 areas of the body. The patients had a mean ISS (S.D.) of 7.2 (6). The patient population had a mean (S.D.) age of 34.1 (14.7) years. The mean (S.D.) hospital stay was 11.2 (32.4) days. Females were significantly younger than males. (Mean (S.D.) age: 31 (12.9) years compared with 38.5 (16.1) years, P<0.001, t-test). Fall from horse was the most common primary

Discussion

This study has demonstrated that the length of hospital stay was affected by the primary cause and complexity of the mechanism of injury. The more complex the mechanism of injury, the longer the hospital stay. Patients who sustained a blow from a horse or were struck by an object while riding had the maximum hospital stay.

Horse-related injuries are reported to occur at a rate of less than one per 1000 riding hours [11]. Although most of the patients have minor uncomplicated injuries that do not

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