A study of the spinal cord injured population of the Chios island of Greece (original) (raw)
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People with Spinal Cord Injury in Greece
American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 2017
There are no reliable epidemiological data regarding the incidence, prevalence, and mortality rate after spinal cord injury (SCI) in Greece. 1 The only evidence available comes from studies that cover only a small part of the total Greek population. 2,3 The larger study available reports an annual incidence rate of 33.6 per million, and transportation accidents are reported as the leading causes of injury. (The study refers to the greater Thessaloniki region, consisting of Central and Western Macedonia. The reported data correspond to the years 2006-2007, where the population of this region was approximately 2 million inhabitants. In the same years, the Greek population was 11.16 million inhabitants.) The percentage of injured males was significantly higher than that of the females. 2
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.
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.
Epidemiology of Post-Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury in a Tertiary Hospital
Acta Ortopédica Brasileira
Objective: to outline the profile of risk groups for spinal cord injury (SCI) at the Hospital de Clinicas de Campinas by an epidemiological survey of 41 patients with SCI. Methods: Data from patients with SCI were collected and analyzed: demographic data, level of neurological injury, visual analogue scale (VAS), and the current American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) impairment scale (AIS), using questionnaires, medical records, and imaging tests. Fisher’s exact test was used to assess the relationship between categorical variables, Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used for numerical variables, and the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to analyze the relationship between categorical and numerical variables, with significance level of 5%. Results: There was a prevalence of 82.9% of men, a mean age of 26.5 years, and traffic accidents as the cause of SCI in 56.1% of cases. Conclusion: Results suggest the importance of SCI prevention campaigns directed at this po...
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.
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...
Epidemiological Study of Spinal Injuries
Neurosurgical research. Epidemiological research of these injuries will increase our knowledge and help the Health Authority blueprint better services that offered.
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.
Epidemiology of spinal injuries in Romania
Spinal Cord, 1994
Retrospective and prospective epidemiological studies in Bucharest indicated a high rate of spinal injuries (about 28.5 per million population per year) in Romania. Most patients were poor, male, manual workers. Half of them were aged less than 40. Falls, particularly from horse-drawn carts, and road traffic accidents were the most frequent causes of injury. In summer, diving accidents were a common cause of spinal injuries. Sixty per cent of the patients had cervical injuries. Pressure sores became less frequent as staff and relatives were trained to turn and position patients. Because gastroduodenal bleeding and deep vein thrombosis were rare, the systematic use of drugs to prevent these conditions was deemed to be unnecessary, given the financial constraints. A shortage of beds and facilities made it difficult to manage associated injuries in a neurosurgical clinic in Bucharest or to admit all patients for rehabilitation. Thirty-nine per cent of all patients admitted with spinal injuries had spinal surgery (61% of those with neurological impairment). Bone grafting was the most common procedure for cervical injuries; surgical stabilisation was not commonly performed due to the shortage of plates and screws. The mortality rate in the early days post injury decreased from 22% (1985-1991) to 10.1% (1992) as medical management improved and the relatives helped with care in the acute phase. A programme is needed in Romania to prevent the accidents that cause spinal injuries and to improve clinical management. As a result of this study, three films were made to aid the prevention of accidents and to train staff and relatives in the care of those with spinal cord injuries.