Spinal cord injury in the female

Abstract

A survey of 200 women, admitted with spinal cord injuries over a 20-year-period, revealed that such injuries were much less common in females than males, with a ratio of 1 female to 4 4 males. Women had a higher ratio of cervical injuries, mainly due to elderly ladies falling downstairs at home. Most women (60 per cent) achieved full independence, pressure sores were seldom a problem, and some women were able to return to work in offices and teaching. Women were very rarely at risk of renal failure. Most complete tetraplegics required permanent catheter drainage, with a 30 per cent incidence of leakage and blockage. Regular cystoscopy was advisable and the danger of autonomic dysreflexia had to be prevented. Partial tetraplegics and most paraplegics could manage without permanent catheters. Most became catheter-free, and the practice of self intermittent catheterisation would be the method of choice for the others. The causes of death were unremarkable, except that only 17 per cent of all late deaths were attributable to the injury. © 1983 International Medical Society of Paraplegia.