Epidemiology of spinal injuries in Lubuskie Province

Spinal injuries represent a serious medical and social problem for society on all continents. The sufferers are predominantly young, healthy and vocationally active people, which entails considerable social and economic consequences. Epidemiologic research enables assessment of the consequences, determination of risk groups and factors and, therefore, identification of preventive and therapeutic tasks for local governments and health care systems. This paper aims to analyse the epidemiology of spinal injuries in Lubuskie Province.

Data on causes of hospitalisation in the period 2005-2008 according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) obtained from Lubuskie Province Office were subjected to a simple mathematical analysis. The results were subsequently compared with selected literature on the subject.

Of the average of 343 cases, the leading cause of hospitalisation was lumbar injury, followed by cervical and thoracic injuries. Lumbar injuries were most frequent in patients older than 40 years, while injuries to the cervical spine were accountable for the majority of hospitalisations of patients aged 18-40. The risk of an injury was higher for inhabitants of towns and males than for residents of villages and females. There was an average of 14.5 cases of spinal cord injuries per one million population, which represents 4% of all spinal injuries requiring hospitalisation. Hospital mortality due to spinal cord injuries amounted to 10.3% and decreased in the last two years of the study.

Male gender, urban environment and age above 40 years are risk factors for spinal injuries. With mean incidence of spinal cord injuries at the level of 14.5/mln, Lubuskie province ranked close to the lower limit of the European average. Although average hospital mortality due to spinal injuries in the period 2005-2008 was high, its reduction in the period 2007-2008 may be considered a harbinger of improvement in the quality of medical services.