Pediatric Spinal Trauma: Vertebral Column and Spinal Cord Injuries in Children

Pediatric spinal cord injury in Sweden: incidence, etiology and outcome

“…24,27 The incidence found in this study may be underestimated because of omission of the SCI diagnosis in cases of severe fatal multitrauma, as discussed by Dickman. 7 The mortality was high (60%). Kewalramani also found high mortality (58%) because of the commonly severe, multiple injuries sustained in traffic accidents.…”

“…43 The current study could not confirm among the survivors, the previously documented tendency for children to sustain upper cervical level injuries. 7,33,44 On the other hand, there was no information about the level of injury among the children who died prior to hospital admission.…”

“…6 Incidence estimates of pediatric SCI are often uncertain because of differing reporting methods, data collection systems and classification patterns. 7 Hospitalbased clinical series are biased by referral patterns and obviously only include patients admitted to a hospital. SCI patients who die at the scene or are dead on arrival are usually not reported.…”

“…Thus, incidence estimates often appear to be too low. 7 Furthermore, it is difficult to make analyses to identify statistically significant patterns because of small study groups. 1 In Sweden, the estimated total incidence of SCI in all age groups is 15/million/year.…”

Pediatric spinal cord injury in Sweden; how to identify a cohort of rare events

“…4 The use of discharge diagnoses for identification of cases may cause problems, such as variation in coding procedures, coding errors, incomplete coding, lack of specificity in available codes and clinical errors in diagnosis. 1 Data must therefore be controlled and a review must be incorporated.…”