J Korean Acad Rehabil Med.  2000 Dec;24(6):1086-1095.

Epidemiologic Study of Complications in Spinal Cord Injury Patients

• Park CI
• Shin JC
• Kim DY
• Park JW
• Chung WT
• Ohn SH
• Im SH

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) suffered by a lot of complications that influence the quality of life both physically and mentally. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology of patients with spinal cord injury in incidence of the complication according to the injury level and period. METHOD: Retrospective study was done in 554 patients with SCI who discharged from Yonsei University Medical Center from January, 1987 to December, 1996. We investigated the incidence of each complication such as respiratory, cardiovascular, genitourinary, musculoskeletal, and dermatologic complications according to the neurologic level and each period (1987~1991, 1992~1996).
RESULTS
Among the 554 cases, urologic complication (40.3%) was the most common complication followed by dermatologic (39.0%), musculoskeletal (33.6%), cardiovascular (27.1%) and so on. The most common complications of each system were autonomic dysreflexia (13.2%) in cardiovascular, pneumonia (9.6%) in respiratory, contracture (27.8%) in musculoskeletal, urinary tract infection (34.3%) in urologic, hemorrhoid in gastrointestinal, and central pain (24.0%) in neurogenic complications. The most common site of pressure sore was sacral area (58.9%). There was no significant difference in each complication according to the injury period.
CONCLUSION
Urologic complication was the most prevalent in patients with SCI followed by dermatologic, musculoskeletal and so on. These basic results would be helpful for prevention and management of the complication of SCI.

Keyword

Spinal cord injury; Epidemiology; Complication

MeSH Terms

Academic Medical Centers
Autonomic Dysreflexia
Contracture
Epidemiologic Studies*
Epidemiology
Hemorrhoids
Humans
Incidence
Pneumonia
Pressure Ulcer
Quality of Life
Retrospective Studies
Spinal Cord Injuries*
Spinal Cord*
Urinary Tract Infections