Epidemiology of Spinal Cord Injuries and Risk Factors for Complete Injuries in Guangdong, China: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

BackgroundSpinal cord injuries are highly disabling and deadly injuries. Currently, few studies focus on non-traumatic spinal cord injuries, and there is little information regarding the risk factors for complete injuries. This study aims to describe the demographics and the injury characteristics for both traumatic and non-traumatic spinal cord injuries and to explore the risk factors for complete spinal cord injuries.MethodsA retrospective study was performed by reviewing the medical records of 3,832 patients with spinal cord injuries who were first admitted to the sampled hospitals in Guangdong, China. The demographics and injury characteristics of the patients were described and compared between the different groups using the chi-square test. Logistic regression was conducted to analyze the risk factors for complete spinal cord injuries.ResultsThe proportion of patients increased from 7.0% to 14.0% from 2003 to 2011. The male-to-female ratio was 3.0∶1. The major cause of spinal cord injuries was traffic accidents (21.7%). Many of the injured were workers (36.2%), peasants (22.8%), and unemployed people (13.9%); these occupations accounted for 72.9% of the total sample. A multivariate logistic regression model revealed that the OR (95% CI) for male gender compared to female gender was 1.25 (1.07–1.89), the OR (95%CI) for having a spinal fracture was 1.56 (1.35–2.60), the OR (95%CI) for having a thoracic injury was 1.23 (1.10–2.00), and the OR (95%CI) for having complications was 2.47 (1.96–3.13).ConclusionThe proportion of males was higher than the proportion of females. Workers, peasants and the unemployed comprised the high-risk occupational categories. Male gender, having a spinal fracture, having a thoracic injury, and having complications were the major risk factors for a complete injury. We recommend that preventive measures should focus on high-risk populations, such as young males.

Traumatic spinal cord injury in Tianjin, China: a single-center report of 354 cases

“…Simple decompression (88 patients in our study) was used in TSCI patients without fracture of spine, and TSCI patients who encountered severe spine fracture were treated with decompression and internal fixation (116 patients). Yang et al 15 reported the similar conditions of treatment options in Guangdong. To our knowledge, a few studies reported treatment options.…”

“…It is generally known that TSCI exerts a substantial financial burden on patients and society on account of the tremendous cost of health-care treatments, decreased quality of life and social participation, as well as lost productivity. 15 Consequently, the research of epidemiological profile can support the effective use of medical resources and the implementation of preventive measures. To our knowledge, such epidemiology research of TSCI from developing countries is comparatively less in comparison with developed countries, mainly because of the lack of National SCI Register System.…”

Epidemiology of Spinal Cord Injury in Iran: Discrepancy with International and Previous Institutional Reports

“…Although throughout the paper it has been emphasized that gender-specific analysis of the data from all centers has been performed, nevertheless the male/female ratio for the 2 NGOs has not been provided despite their claim, to have these data. The low male/female ratio has been previously reported in SCI populations only in the fifth and sixth decades of their life [6] , but the mean age of SCI patients in Iran has been reported to be about 38.2 years [2] , although the standard deviation for age in this study has not been provided, the mean age is far from this age range.We conclude that the male/female ratio has been underestimated in this report. The previously reported epidemiological studies from Iran are not concordant with findings of the paper.…”

Intramedullary Lesion Length on Postoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a Strong Predictor of ASIA Impairment Scale Grade Conversion Following Decompressive Surgery in Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

“…1 Each year, 12 000 to 20 000 people sustain SCI in North America, and almost 2.5 million people worldwide live with SCI, experiencing immense personal, psychosocial, social, and financial burden. 2–7 Nearly half of the victims of SCI suffer a complete deficit, and one-third remain tetraplegic for life. While little can be done currently to undo or repair the primary injury to the spinal cord, great hope lies in interrupting the molecular cascades triggered by primary injury that are believed to worsen outcome.…”