Demographic Profile of Spinal Cord Injury Patients Admitted in a Rehabilitation Centre: An Observational Study from Bangladesh

Abstract

Background:  Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a life threating condition which has a profound impact in the morbidity and mortality. SCI causes lifetime sufferings and mostly occur among the young adults. Not only in Bangladesh but also worldwide, SCI is a devastating and burdensome condition. This research was conducted to see the demographic profile of SCI patients in Bangladesh. Methods and Materials: This is a retrospective analysis where data was collected from medical records of all SCI patients admitted in between January 2012 to December 2014 from Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), Savar. Results: A total of 1172 SCI patients were analyzed. Most of the patients were in their second to third decade of life which consisted 28.8% (n=338). Among total respondents, 86.2% (n=1010) were male and 13.8% (n=162) were female. Most of the participants 61.1% (n=716) were from rural area. The main cause of SCI was fall from height (FFH) {45.8% (n = 537)} followed by the road traffic accidents (RTA) {24.7% (n = 288)}. Overall, 52.3% (n = 613) of participants suffered from traumatic paraplegia while 60.9% (n = 714) had complete lesion. Among the total participants, 30.70% (n = 359) of participants had skeletal level C1-C7 injury. Division-wise distribution shows that FFH is a major cause of SCI {14.84% (n = 174)} followed by the RTA which is a second most common cause in 8.95% (n = 105) of participants in Dhaka division while SCI due to bull attacks and bullet injury are a major cause in Khulna division {1.02% (n = 12)} and Chittagong division respectively. Conclusion: The data is collected from a tertiary level of rehabilitation centre where extensive demographic data was not previously represented. In many developing countries SCI is neglected, poorly managed and deprived from society. In addition, the present study suggests that demographic factors may affect the characteristics of SCI.