Spine injuries in a tertiary health care hospital in Jammu: A Clinico - Epidemiological Study

摘要

This is a 2 years review of traumatic spine injury patients treated at GMC Jammu, a tertiary care health centre, to determine clinico-epidemiological aspects of this injury in Jammu division. The objective of this study was to study the risk factors in traumatic spinal cord injuries and to identify preventable risk factors. Introduction In the Indian setup, as in most developing countries, very little is known about the exact epidemiology of spine injuries. The annual incidence of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) in developed countries varies from 11.5 to 53.4 per million of population (1). Deaths after admission for acute SCI range from 4.4% to 16.7 %( 2). In our setup, most of these injuries occur due to fall from roofs, fall from hills and trees, or road traffic accidents, which can be prevented. An epidemiological study can provide valuable information regarding the magnitude of this problem and resultant demand on health care resources. It can help to identify the most common risk factors involved in SCI. It can also help formulate preventive measures which can modify or eliminate the risk factors and may decrease the incidence of this incapacitating injury. Material and Methods The study was conducted from January 2006 to July 2008. We included in this study all the patients of traumatic spinal cord injuries with or without any neurological deficit referred to emergency wing of our institution from various places of Jammu division. Patients who died before reaching hospital were excluded from the study. Detailed history was taken with respect to age, sex, place of living, mode of injury, associated injury, socio-economical status, time taken to reach hospital, whether properly immobilized during referral or not, and any kind of treatment received before referral . Study variables: Age, sex, mode of injury, SCI level, seasonal variation, and associated injury. Results and Observations A total of four hundred three 403 cases of SCI were reported between January 1st 2006 and June 30th 2008. There were 302 males and 101 females; male to female ratio was 2.98:1 (Table1).