Original Article

Spinal Cord (2007) 45, 597–602; doi:10.1038/sj.sc.3102005; published online 19 December 2006

A demographic profile of traumatic and non-traumatic spinal injury cases: a hospital-based study from India

P Agarwal1, P Upadhyay1 and K Raja1

1Department of Physiotherapy, Manipal College of Allied Health Sciences, Manipal Academy Of Higher Education, Manipal, India

Correspondence: K Raja, Department of Physiotherapy, Manipal College of Allied Health Sciences, Manipal Academy Of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, India

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Abstract

Study design and subjects:

 

Retrospective descriptive analysis of data of patients with spinal injuries admitted to a tertiary referral medical center from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2004.

Objectives:

 

To identify the demographic profile of patients with spinal injuries admitted in this hospital.

Setting:

 

Medical records department, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, Karnataka, India.

Methods:

 

A total of 207 patients with traumatic and non-traumatic spinal injuries were included in the study. The patient characteristics that were included were age groups, neurologic status, mode and neurological level of injury, management and recovery pattern.

Results:

 

Ratio of men to women who sustained spinal injuries was 3.6:1. The maximum number of patients was in the age range of 20–39 years. The different levels of spine that sustained injuries were cervical spine (36.2%), thoracic spine (34.3%) and lumbar spine (29.5%). There were 118 patients with neurological deficit. Mechanisms of injury recorded were fall from height (58.9%), fall of weight (7.2%), motor vehicle accidents (21.3%) and non-traumatic causes (12.6%). Of these 207 spinal injury patients, 74.4% were managed conservatively, whereas 25.6% patients were managed surgically.

Observation:

 

This study gives a preliminary overview of the characteristics of patients with spinal injuries in this hospital.

Keywords:

demographics, spinal injuries, paraplegia, morbidity

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