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. 2023 Feb;61(2):99-105.
doi: 10.1038/s41393-022-00842-6. Epub 2022 Aug 6.

Incidence and mortality of spinal cord injury from 2008 to 2020: a retrospective population-based cohort study in the Piedmont Region, Italy

Alessio Conti  1 , Sara Campagna  1 , Maria Michela Gianino  1 , Carlo Mamo  2 , Roberta Onorati  2 , Beatrice Albanesi  1 , Valerio Dimonte  1 , Alberto Borraccino  3
Affiliations

Incidence and mortality of spinal cord injury from 2008 to 2020: a retrospective population-based cohort study in the Piedmont Region, Italy

Alessio Conti et al. Spinal Cord. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Study design: Retrospective population-based cohort study.

Objectives: To determine the incidence and mortality of spinal cord injuries (SCI) in the Piedmont Region of Northwestern Italy.

Setting: Publicly-funded SCI rehabilitation centres in the Piedmont Region.

Methods: Administrative databases were used to identify individuals at their first admission to a SCI rehabilitation centre from January 1st, 2008 to December 31st, 2020. Cases were stratified by age and aetiology (traumatic SCI, TSCI; non-traumatic SCI, NTSCI). Age- and aetiology-specific incidence rate and person-year mortality rates were calculated for each year. Case lethality was reported as deaths among prevalent cases for each year.

Results: A total of 892 cases were identified (56.4% TSCI). The average annual crude incidence rate was 17.9 per million population, decreasing from 26.0 in 2008 to 10.8 in 2020. Young adults and the elderly represented the majority of TSCI and NTSCI cases, respectively. Of the 235 individuals who died during the study period, 58.3% had NTSCI. The mortality rate per 1000 person-years decreased from 16.3 in 2009 to 8.5 in 2020, while case lethality more than tripled (from 17.2 in 2009 to 57.1 in 2020).

Conclusions: We identified a decreasing trend in SCI incidence and mortality rates, with an increased case lethality over the study period, especially in NTSCI. Given these changes in the epidemiology of SCI, community services offered after rehabilitation should be strengthened to enhance their effectiveness and contribute to increased survival in this population.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Spinal cord injury rehabilitation centres in the Piedmont Region.
Map of the Piedmont Region with the three spinal cord injury rehabilitation centres, located in Torino (TO), Novara (NO), and Alessandria (AL).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Trends of incidence and mortality of spinal cord injury cases from 2008 to 2020.
Standardised Incidence Rate (and 95% confidence interval, dotted lines) per million inhabitants and cohort mortality rate per 1000 person-years (and 95% confidence interval, grey area) of traumatic and non-traumatic spinal cord injury cases, from 2008 to 2020. Piedmont Region, Italy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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