People with Spinal Cord Injury in Greece (original) (raw)
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A study of the spinal cord injured population of the Chios island of Greece
International …, 2011
Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the epidemiological profile of the spinal cord injured population living on the Greek island Chios. Methods: We interviewed the regional spinal cord injured population. Participants were recruited from the island's capital and its 52 villages. The target population was all the SCI individuals living on Chios Island (n=38), out of which 34 (response rate was 89%) patients were interviewed in their homes using an especially designed questionnaire. Results: The mean age of the subjects at the time of the injury was 43 and the majority (n=23, 67.6%) were male. The employment status of the participants changed after the injury from 64.7% (n=22) to 32.4% (n=11). Traffic accidents were the cause of the SCI for 44.8%, with a significant difference from the other causes of injury (p<0.004). The most common level of injury was thoracic-lumbar (23.5%, n=8). The duration of hospitalization was on average 4.6 ± 3.9 months followed by treatment in rehabilitation centres. Most participants faced secondary complications which correlated significantly with age (r=0.372 p=0.03). Conclusions: The findings revealed that traffic accidents were the main reason for SCI. More research is needed on SCIs in Greece and the development of a surveillance system for SCIs is suggested.
Study design: Prospective, population-based study. This paper is part of the Stockholm Thessaloniki Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Study (STATSCIS). Objectives: To evaluate and compare outcomes, length of stay (LOS), associated conditions and medical complications at 1-year post-trauma. Settings: The Greater Thessaloniki region, Greece, and the Greater Stockholm region, Sweden. While Stockholm follows a SCI system of care, Thessaloniki follows a fragmented 'non-system' approach. Subjects: Out of the 87 cases in Thessaloniki and the 49 cases in Stockholm who comprised the study population of STATSCIS, 75 and 42 cases respectively were successfully followed-up during the first year post-trauma. Results: Significantly superior outcomes (that is, survival with neurological recovery, functional ability and discharge to home) and shorter LOS for initially motor complete cases occurred in Stockholm. Management routines known to increase long-term morbidity, for example, long-term tracheostomy and indwelling urethral catheters were significantly more common in Thessaloniki. Major medical complications, that is, multiple pressure ulcers, heterotopic ossification and bacteremia/sepsis were more frequent in Thessaloniki. Conclusions: Our findings show how two rather similar cohorts of TSCI manifest large discrepancies in terms of 1-year outcomes and complications, depending on the type of management they receive. As the major difference between regions was the presence or absence of a SCI system of care, rather than differences in availability of modern medicine, the mere presence of the latter does not seem to be sufficient to guarantee adequate outcomes. This study provides strong evidence as to the urgent need of implementing a SCI system of care in Greece.
People with Spinal Cord Injury in Poland
American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 2017
In the past 20 years, no systematic effort has been made to estimate the national spinal cord injury (SCI) incidence or prevalence. Epidemiologic data are mainly derived from hospital-based studies and different time points and may be outdated. 1 The incidence of SCI is estimated to be 14.5 for low urbanized regions and 20 per million population for highly industrialized areas in Poland. 2,3 Currently, there are no studies investigating the prevalence of SCI in Poland. 1 More data have been retrieved from studies pertaining the etiology of SCI. Over the past decades, traffic accidents (24.5%), falls from a horse cart (24.3%), and diving accidents (19.8%) have been the predominant causes for an SCI. 1,4-7 Cervical SCI prevailed among those younger than 40 years (particularly among children and adolescents) with the injury usually resulted from a diving or traffic accident, whereas falls from height and lumbar injuries were more frequent in older persons. 2,4,7 Males were affected 2.8 to 6 times more frequently compared with females. 2,8 A systematic review revealed that there are no studies concerning the epidemiology of SCI that resulted from conditions other than trauma. 1 Hospital mortality rate ranges between 8.9% (data from a specialized SCI center, 1965-1993) and 10.3% (regional hospitals, 2005-2008) in the acute phase of SCI 2,5,9,10 and depends on injury location (18% of cervical, 7.5% of thoracic, and 2.4% of lumbar SCI), severity of neurological deficit on admission (17.9% in persons with a complete neural deficit), cause of injury (19%-21% among persons injured in falls from height, 16% in pedestrians struck by motor vehicles), and patient age. 7,9,10 Deaths in the acute period after injury were most often due to pulmonary complications (74%), gastrointestinal bleeding (8%), urosepsis (7.4%), pulmonary embolism (6.2%), and irreversible brain injury (6%). 10 THE PATIENT JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHAIN OF CARE Upon the report of an injury, first aid is usually rendered by qualified rescue teams.
1995
Injuries of the spine are one of the issues of principal interest in Orthopaedic and Neurosurgical research. Epidemiological research of these injuries will increase our knowledge and help the Health Authority blueprint better services than offered. Material-Method: Admissions of the department during the period 1990-1994, were studied and those with spinal injuries were isolated. There were 208 patients with spinal injuries, (6,3%) out of the total admissions, (n=3296), during the stated period of time. 132 (63%) of them were men and 76 (37%) women. The mean age of the patients was 41 years of age. Findings: The frequencies of the parameters studied are presented and more specifically 32% of the injuries were related with the cervical, 14% with the thoracic and 45% with the lumbar spine. 7% of them were double level injuries. 29% of the patients were multiple injured. 22 out of the 208 patients (10,6), had neural involvement, (radicular or spinal). In men there is an increase of incidence of spinal injuries during their third decade of life. Respectively women exhibited the same tendency in their eighth decade of life. The incidence of cervical spine injuries has also increased during the last few years. Discussion-Conclusions: Analyzing our data and reviewing the literature it became apparent that traffic accidents were responsible for the arithmetic increase of spinal injuries in young men and osteoporosis for older women. It would be interesting to have this sort of documentation from other Orthopaedic Departments as well, so that better health authority planning can be achieved.
The management of spinal cord injury patients in Greece
Spinal Cord, 1992
In Greece, spinal cord injury patients have serious problems concerning their treatment, social management and vocational integration. Unfortunately the treatment of such patients is usually limited to that offered in institutions for the chronically sick, after they have received their acute initial care in general hospitals. The large number of institutional beds (1287 in 1986) in relation to the small number of active rehabilitation beds (116 beds in 1989) is noteworthy. Generally speaking, the specialisation of health personnel is limited. In practice there is no programme of social rehabilitation, except for specific concessions. Disabled individuals can refer to the Professional Integration Service for their vocational reintegration. We must note that vocational counsellors do not take part in the rehabilitation team. The idea of intervention for the adaptation of architectural barriers is now beginning to be considered in theory. Physicians are making efforts to establish 'basic' spinal cord units.
Incidence of spinal cord injuries in Constanta County (Romania) between 2017-2021
Balneo and PRM Research Journal
Background: The purpose of this study was to investigated cases of spinal cord injury (SCI) during the years 2017-2021, in Constanta County (Romania) to update the data on SCI and thus identify the SCI trends in this region of Romania. Methods: The study retrospectively analysed patients with SCI in Constanța County, whose data (medical records) were provided to us by the Romania Motivation Foundation. This analysis was made for the period January 1, 2017 - August 31, 2021. Results: Ninety-six new traumatic cases of SCI were reported between 2017 and 2021 in Constanța County. It was found that the annual incidence is 2.48 per hundred thousand inhabitants. The male / female ratio was 5:1 and the mean age at injury was 33.52 ± 15.1 (33.41 ± 14.80 for men and 33.92 ± 16.01 for women). The most common cause of injury was unintentional fall (48.95%), followed by road accidents (39.58%), stab wounds (4.16%), gunshot wounds (3.12%) and injuries caused by diving 2.08%). Fifteen patients (15...
Study design: Prospective, population-based study. This paper is part of the Stockholm Thessaloniki Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Study (STATSCIS). Objectives: To characterize patient populations and to compare acute management after traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI). Settings: The Greater Thessaloniki region in Greece and the Greater Stockholm region in Sweden. Methods: Inception cohorts with acute TSCI that were hospitalized during the study period, that is September 2006 to October 2007, were identified. Overall, 81 out of 87 cases consented to inclusion in Thessaloniki and 47 out of 49 in Stockholm. Data from Thessaloniki were collected through physical examinations, medical record reviews and communication with TSCI cases and medical teams. Data from Stockholm were retrieved from the Nordic Spinal Cord Injury Registry. Results: There were no significant differences between study groups with regard to core clinical characteristics. In contrast, there were significant differences in (1) transfer logistics from the scene of trauma to a tertiary-level hospital (number of intermediate admissions, modes of transportation and duration of transfer) and acute key therapeutic interventions, that is, the use of mechanical ventilation (49% in Thessaloniki versus 20% in Stockholm), and performance of tracheostomy (36% in Thessaloniki versus 15% in Stockholm); spinal surgery was performed significantly more often and earlier in Stockholm than in Thessaloniki. Conclusions: Despite largely similar core clinical characteristics, Stockholm and Thessaloniki cases underwent significantly different acute management, most probably to be attributed to adaptations to the differing regional approaches of care one following a systematic approach of SCI care and the other not.
Spinal cord injuries – Epidemiology in Portugal's central region
Spinal Cord, 1998
This study concerns spinal cord injuries (SCI) in a region of Portugal with a population of 1 721 650 inhabitants. Legislation has made it possible to identify deaths occurring during collection and transport. Between 1989 and 1992, 398 new cases of spinal cord injuries were identi®ed, of which 77% were male and 23% female. The average age was 50, with a range of between 1 and 92. As far as the type of injury is concerned, there were 154 isolated SCI (38.7%); in 120 cases (30.1%) there were multiple associated injuries; in 66 cases (16.6%) there was an associated traumatic brain injury; in 34 cases (8.5%) there was an associated trauma of the thorax. In the hospitals concerned no Injury Severity Score (ISS) was carried out during hospitalization. Sixty-four (16%) were dead upon arrival at hospital, and 159 (40%) died before release. The average length of hospitalization was 26.6 days, with the maximum being 539 days. The annual incidence rate is 57.8 new cases per million inhabitants, including those who died before being admitted to hospital. The annual survival rate is 25.4 new cases per million inhabitants. The death rate is very high during the ®rst week, peaking during the ®rst 24 h.
Change in the profile of traumatic spinal cord injury over 15 years in Spain
Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine, 2018
Traumatic spinal cord injury remains a serious public health and social problem. Although incidence rates are decreasing in our environment, it is a high cost condition that is associated with great disability. The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiological and demographic characteristics of traumatic spinal cord injury and to analyse its epidemiological changes. This study was an observational study with prospective monitoring of all traumatic spinal cord injury patients in the Canary Islands, Spain (2.1 million inhabitants) between 2001 and 2015. Over the specified period of the study, 282 patients suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury. The crude incidence rate was 9.3 cases per million people/year. The patients' mean age increased from 38 years (2001-2005) to 48 years (2011-2015) (p < 0.05). Overall, 80.1% of patients were males. The trauma mechanisms of spinal cord injury were falls in 44%, traffic accidents in 36.5%, diving accidents in 8.9% and others...