Demographic Profile of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI): A Hospital-based Prospective study in Bangladesh

Purpose: To provide an overview of demographic characteristics of spinal cord injury (SCI) in Bangladesh.

Methods: The study was conducted between 1st January and 31st December 2012 at 5 hospitals:  Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in Savar, National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Rangpur Medical College Hospital, and Chittagong Medical College Hospital. 600 SCI cases from these tertiary hospitals were enrolled, and data was collected from those who met the study criteria, using a structured questionnaire developed on the basis of SCI core data set. Data was processed and analysed by SPSS version 16.

Results: The male/female ratio was 4.5:1. Mean age at injury was 34.53 years (16–83 years). The cause of SCI was falls for 34.8% and RTA for 25.5% of the clients. 83.5% of SCI was traumatic and 16.5% was non-traumatic in origin. Only 9.5% of the clients were directly admitted to tertiary hospitals while 90.5% had intermediate admission before that. One-third (33.2%) of the clients used ambulance for intra-hospital transfer. 70.5% of the injury resulted in paraplegia and 29.5% in tetraplegia. Thoraco-lumbar junction (T11-L2) was the region most commonly involved, accounting for 38.7% of all cases. Overall 58.7% SCI cases were found with complete injury (ASIA-A) and 41.3% with incomplete injury during admission. 20.8% of the clients were admitted with pressure ulcer. The study found 27.2% of cases were operated on. The in-hospital mortality rate was 3.3%.

Limitation: The pre-hospital fatalities were not included in the study. During data collection, extent of SCI was found in only 507 cases instead of all 600 enrolled.

Conclusions: This study could contribute to the establishment of an effective prevention programme and comprehensive SCI management in Bangladesh.