Table 1. Characteristics of the human population from an intervention study performed in 51 veal calf farms to reduce MRSA carriage, the Netherlands 2010–2012.
| Arm of study | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descriptive statistic | RAB | RAB-CD | Control | All farms | |
| Mean age (standard deviation) | 26.1 (18.1) | 32.4 (18.1) | 30.8 (18.2) | 29.5 (18.3) | |
| Median number of working hours (interquartile range) | 5.0 (0–30) | 10 (0–35) | 8.5 (0–32) | 7 (0–32) | |
| Total no. of people | 78 | 63 | 65 | 206 | |
| By working hours a | Farmers b | 23 (27%) | 27 (47%) | 26 (45%) | 76 (43%) |
| Family members b | 40 (63%) | 30 (53%) | 32 (55%) | 102 (57%) | |
| By sex | Male | 46 (59%) | 35 (55%) | 29 (45%) | 110 (53%) |
| Female | 32 (41%) | 28 (45%) | 36 (55%) | 96 (46%) | |
| By sex and working hours | Male farmers b | 19 (50%) | 17 (52%) | 17 (63%) | 53 (54%) |
| Male family members b | 19 (50%) | 16 (48%) | 10 (37%) | 45 (46%) | |
| Female farmers b | 4 (16%) | 10 (42%) | 9 (71%) | 23 (29%) | |
| Female family members b | 21 (84%) | 14 (58%) | 22 (29%) | 57 (61%) | |
MRSA, livestock-associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus; RAB, farms reducing antimicrobials by protocol; RAB-CD, farms reducing antimicrobials by protocol and applying a cleaning and disinfection program; Control, farms without interventions.
a Farmers: 20 or more working hours per week in the farm; family members: less than 20 working hours per week in the farm.
b Note that numbers in strata of working hours do not sup up to total numbers because there are missing values for the variable number of working hours per week in the stables.