J Korean Acad Rehabil Med.  1999 Apr;23(2):267-275.

Epidemiologic Study of Spinal Cord Injury

• Park CI
• Shin JC
• Kim SW
• Jang SH
• Chung WT
• Kim HJ

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.

Keyword

Spinal cord injury; Epidemiology

MeSH Terms

Accidents, Traffic
Catheterization
Catheters
Epidemiologic Studies*
Epidemiology
Female
Hospitalization
Humans
Male
Medical Records
Paraplegia
Quadriplegia
Reflex
Rehabilitation
Retrospective Studies
Spinal Cord Injuries*
Spinal Cord*
Sports
Urinary Bladder