A demographic profile of new traumatic spinal cord injuries: Change and stability over 30 years

Jackson AB, Dijkers M, DeVivo M, Poczatek RB. A demographic profile of new traumatic spinal cord injuries: change and stability over 30 years. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2004; 85:1740-8. To evaluate epidemiologic trends in new spinal cord injuries (SCIs) in the United States over 3 decades. Consecutive case series. Model Spinal Cord Injury Systems (MSCIS) facilities. Persons (N=30,532) admitted to MSCIS facilities within 365 days of injury between 1973 and 2003, and enrolled in the National Spinal Cord Injury Database. Not applicable. Data were collected at MSCIS admission and rehabilitation discharge. Variables included age, gender, race and ethnic group, year of injury, and level and extent of injury. Specific etiologies were grouped as motor vehicle collisions (MVCs), violence, falls, sports, and other. Demographic and injury severity trends were analyzed by year of injury groupings according to decades (1973–1979, 1980–1989, 1990–1999, 2000–2003.) Chi-square tests assessed statistical significance. One-way analysis of variance compared mean ages. The male/female ratio remained fairly stable at 4:1, but the percentage of women increased slightly over time, especially from MVC etiologies ( P