The Incidence of traumatic spinal cord injury in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Pakistan from 2008 to 2012

JRCRS-2016; 4(1): 30-34

Abstract

Background: Incidence studies of SCI play an important role in planning health care policies.
This study gives the incidence of SCI in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

Objective: To determine the incidence of Traumatic spinal cord injury in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa,
Pakistan from 2008 to 2012

Methodology: This study is retrospective descriptive study. The data was collected from three SCI
rehabilitation centers of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. SCI cases were collected from the records of the
rehab centers which occurred in KPK between 2008 and 2012. All data was entered in SPSS and was
analyzed for finding the incidence rate of SCI, male and female ratio, most common cause, and most
frequently injured level, age of patients, complete and incomplete injuries and district wise
distribution.

Results: Total 1,136 SCI patients were included in the study. The mean incidence on the five years
was 10.23 per million people per year. Males were 920 patients (81 %) while females were 216
patients (19 %). Most patients (31.4 %) were at age between 20 to 29 years. Falls from height (35.3
%) was the most common cause of SCI which was followed by RTA (21.5 %) and FAI (21.3 %)
respectively. Thoracic (58.2 %) was most common level injured. Complete injuries were 903 (79.5 %)
and incomplete were 233 (20.5 %). Most patients were from Peshawar District (15.2 %).

Conclusion: Incidence of SCI in KPK was 10.23 per million people per year.

Keywords: Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury, Incidence, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.