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

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.

To identify the demographic profile of patients with spinal injuries admitted in this hospital.

Medical records department, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, Karnataka, India.

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.

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.

This study gives a preliminary overview of the characteristics of patients with spinal injuries in this hospital.