Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jul;39(4):455-60.
doi: 10.1080/10790268.2015.1101982. Epub 2015 Dec 16.

Epidemiological features of traumatic spinal cord injury in Chongqing, China

Guang-Zhi Ning  1 , Zhi-Ping Mu  1 , Lei Shangguan  1 , Yu Tang  1 , Chang-Qing Li  1 , Zheng-Feng Zhang  1 , Yue Zhou  1
Affiliations

Epidemiological features of traumatic spinal cord injury in Chongqing, China

Guang-Zhi Ning et al. J Spinal Cord Med. 2016 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: To describe the epidemiological characteristics and trends of traumatic spinal cord injury in Chongqing, China.

Study design: Hospital-based retrospective research.

Setting: Xinqiao Hospital, Chongqing.

Methods: We reviewed medical records of 554 patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) admitted to Xinqiao Hospital from 2009 to 2013. Variables included gender, age, marital status, etiology, occupation, time of injury, level of injury, and severity of injury, the length of hospital stay, and treatment.

Results: The mean age of patients with TSCI was 45.6 ± 13.8 years, and the male/female ratio was 4.33:1. 94.2% (522 patients) of all patients with TSCI were married. Falls, comprising low falls and high falls (10.8% and 50.9%, respectively), were the leading reason for a hospital visit. And the second reason was MVCs (21.8%). The most common injury site was the cervical spinal cord, accounting for nearly more than 54%. The length of hospital stay ranged between 1 and 219 days (mean: 28.3 days). The proportions of complete tetraplegia, incomplete tetraplegia, complete paraplegia and incomplete paraplegia were 17.1%, 37.8%, 22.2%, and 22.9%, respectively.

Conclusion: The result revealed that the proportion of males was higher, as well as falls and MVCs were the first two main reasons, with older mean age of patients with TSCI than other countries. The occupations with highest risk for TSCI were peasants and laborers. All of these results prompted that preventive methods should be based on the characteristics of different type of patients with TSCI.

Keywords: Epidemiology; High-risk occupations for SCI; Prevention; TSCI; Traumatic spinal cord injury.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The annual count of TSCI patients during 2009–2013.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution histogram of the injury level of the patients.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The count of patients in cervical, thoracic and lumbar segment according to the ASIA scale.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. French DD, Campbell RR, Sabharwal S, Nelson AL, Palacios PA, Gavin-Dreschnack D. Health care costs for patients with chronic spinal cord injury in the Veterans Health Administration. J Spinal Cord Med 2007;30(5):477–81. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cripps RA, Lee BB, Wing P, Weerts E, Mackay J, Brown D. A global map for traumatic spinal cord injury epidemiology: towards a living data repository for injury prevention. Spinal Cord 2011;49(4):493–501. doi: 10.1038/sc.2010.146 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wyndaele M, Wyndaele JJ.. Incidence, prevalence and epidemiology of spinal cord injury: what learns a worldwide literature survey? Spinal Cord 2006;44 (9):523–9. doi: 10.1038/sj.sc.3101893 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bjornshave Noe B, Mikkelsen EM, Hansen RM, Thygesen M, Hagen EM.. Incidence of traumatic spinal cord injury in Denmark, 1990–2012: a hospital-based study. Spinal Cord 2015; 53 (6):436–40. doi: 10.1038/sc.2014.181 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Koskinen EA, Alen M, Vaarala EM, Rellman J, Kallinen M, Vainionpaa A. Centralized spinal cord injury care in Finland: unveiling the hidden incidence of traumatic injuries. Spinal Cord 2014;52(10):779–84. doi: 10.1038/sc.2014.131 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources