Factors affecting the severity of horse-related injuries

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.