Life expectancy following spinal cord injury: a ten-years survey in the Rhône-Alpes Region, France, 1969-1980

A ten years survey of 848 patients having sustained traumatic spinal cord injury between 1969 and 1979 was conducted in the Rhône-Alpes Region, France. All patients had been referred to the spinal cord injury unit, Hôpital Henry Gabrielle. 48 deaths were recorded: 36 patients admitted early to the Unit, and 12 patients injured before 1969 but followed-up in the Unit. The deceased patients were older and more frequently male and tetraplegic than the rest of the group. In 75 per cent of the deceased patients, the survival time was less than 1/5 of the theoretical life expectancy. In 59 per cent, it was less than 1/10. Twenty tetraplegics died of respiratory complications. Three patients committed suicide, the rest died of urinary complications. The results appear to determine a secondary period with high mortality rate, after the initial high mortality of these patients. About one year post-injury, the life expectancy in our series appears to tend towards the values observed in the French population.