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

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. © 2007 International Spinal Cord Society All rights reserved.