Profile of spinal cord injuries among inward patients at the Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Hospital, Ragama

Abstract

INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES: The global spinal cord injury (SCI) incidence is 40 to 80 per million. Data on SCI in Sri Lanka is sparse. This study describes the socio-demographic characteristics of SCI patients at the Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Hospital, Ragama (RRH). METHODS: All SCI patients admitted to the RRH during September to November 2015 were studied. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used. Ethical clearance was obtained from the University of Kelaniya. ISCO-08 classification was used to classify the occupation category. RESULTS: There were 138 SCI patients. 124 (90%) of them were males, median age was 39 (IQR: 27 to 57) years and 11 (8%) were below 18 years. There were 50 (36%) elementary workers, 28 (20%) service and sales related workers, 10 (7%) machine operators and 26 (18%) were unemployed. Causes of spinal injury were as follows; 62 (45%) fall from a height, 35 (25%) road traffic accidents (RTA), 20 (14%) disease related, 5 (3.6%) each from assault, blunt trauma and spinal tumors. There were 63 (45.6%) thoracic, 57 (41.3%) cervical, 18 (13%) lumbar spinal injuries respectively. 90 (65%) were paraplegic and 48 (34%) were quadriplegic. 29% were bed bound, 58% could move in a wheelchair with support, 10% could move in a wheelchair without support and 2% could walk alone. CONCLUSION: SCI is common in young and middle aged adult male elementary workers. Common cause of injury was fall from a height followed by RTAs. Thoracic and cervical injuries were common and the majority were paraplegic patients. Health education programmes on safety measures to minimize SCI due to falls and RTAs in risk groups would be important in preventing the majority of SCI.