Spinal Cord Injury Facts And Figures At A Glance

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Spinal Cord Injury Facts and Figures at a Glance https:// www.nscisc.uab.edu

February 2012

This is a publication of the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, Birmingham, Alabama.

Incidence: It is estimated that the annual incidence of spinal

cord injury (SCI), not including those who die at the scene of the accident, is approximately 40 cases per million population in the U. S. or approximately 12,000 new cases each year. Since there have not been any incidence studies of SCI in the U.S. since the 1990's it is not known if incidence has changed in recent years.

Prevalence: The number of people in the United States who

are alive in 2012 who have SCI has been estimated to be approximately 270,000 persons, with a range of 236,000 to
327,000 persons. Note: Incidence and prevalence statistics are estimates obtained from several studies. These statistics are not derived from the National SCI Database.

SCI is falls, followed by acts of violence (primarily gunshot wounds). The proportion of injuries that are due to sports has decreased over time while the proportion of injuries due to falls has increased. Violence caused 13.3% of spinal cord injuries prior to 1980, and peaked between 1990 and 1999 at 24.8% before declining to only 14.6% since 2005.

CAUSES OF SCI SINCE 2005

The National Spinal Cord Injury Database has been in existence since 1973 and captures data from an estimated 13% of new SCI cases in the U.S. Since its inception, 28 federally funded SCI Model Systems have contributed data to the
National SCI Database. As of December 2011, the database contained information on 28,450 persons who sustained traumatic spinal cord injuries. All the remaining statistics on this sheet are derived from this database or from collaborative studies conducted by the model systems. Detailed discussions of all topics on this sheet may be found in special issues of the journal Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation published in November 1999, November 2004, and March 2011.

Age at injury: SCI primarily affects young adults. From 1973

to 1979, the average age at injury was 28.7 years, and most injuries occurred between the ages of 16 and 30. However, as the median age of the general population of the United States has increased by approximately 9 years since the mid-1970, the average age at injury has also steadily increased over time.
Since 2005, the average age at injury is 41.0 years. Other possible reasons for the observed trend toward older age at injury might include changes in either referral patterns to model systems, the locations of model systems, survival rates of older persons at the scene of the accident, or age-specific incidence rates. Gender: Overall, 80.6% of spinal cord injuries reported to the

national database have occurred among males. Over the history of the database, there has been a slight trend toward a decreasing percentage of males. Prior to 1980, 81.8% of new spinal cord injuries occurred among males.

Race/Ethnicity:

A significant trend over time has been observed in the racial/ethnic distribution of persons in the database. Among persons injured between 1973 and 1979,
76.8% were Caucasian, 14.2% were African American, 1.9% were Native American and 0.9% were Asian. However, among those injured since 2005, 66.0% are Caucasian, 26.2% are
African American, 0.9% are Native American and 2.1% are
Asian. Hispanic origin increased from 5.9% in 1970’s to 12.5% in 2000-2004 and 8.3% since 2005. This trend is due in part to trends in the United States general population and also possibly explained by the changing locations of model systems, referral patterns to model systems, or race-specific incidence rates.

Etiology:

Since 2005, motor vehicle crashes account for
39.2% of reported SCI cases. The next most common cause of

Neurologic level and extent of lesion: Persons with

tetraplegia have sustained