Epidemiologic Study of Spinal Cord Injury

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to present epidemiological data on patients with spinal cord lesion admitted to the Rehabilitation Hospital, YUCM. METHOD: Review of medical records of 590 patients with spinal cord injury admitted to the Rehabilitation Hospital, YUCM from 1987 to 1996 retrospectively. RESULTS: 1) Sex Males account for 79.6% of the SCI patients. 2) Age The largest number of injuries occurs in the 20~29 years of age group (32.5% of patients). 3) Etiology Trauma accounts for 91.2% of all spinal cord injuries. The leading causes of traumatic spinal cord injury are traffic accidents (57.6%) and falls (26.4%). 4) Level of injury Complete tetraplegia accounts for 20.5% of all SCI patients, incomplete tetraplegia 23.9%, complete paraplegia 38.8% and incomplete paraplegia 16.5%. In tetraplegics, incomplete injuries increased from 40% in 1987~1991 to 56.7% in 1992~1996. 5) Methods of bladder management 87% of patients voids by reflex. Intermittent catheterization is practiced by 8% of patients. CONCLUSION: Epidemiologic data of 590 patients admitted to the Rehabilitation Hospital, YUCM, from 1987 to 1996 is presented with changes of epidemiology in each period. The patients suffered SCI from trauma, and traffic accidents and sports as causes were increasing. Female patients and incomplete injuries were also increasing. Mean duration of hospitalization decreased.