Epidemiology of traumatic spinal cord injuries in Colombia

Study design Retrospective cohort study. Objectives To determine the incidence and characteristics of newly injured individuals admitted to a traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) referral center during a 4-year period. Setting University Hospital of Valle, Cali, Colombia. Methods Individuals were identified, and their data was recorded based on the International Spinal Cord Injury Core Data Set. The outcome of interest was the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grade at the last follow-up. Results There were 491 individuals admitted in the 4-year period. The mean annual incidence of TSCI was 56.27 per million inhabitants. Considering TSCI in individuals exclusively from Cali, the mean annual incidence was 27.78 per million. The leading cause of TSCI was interpersonal violence (47.25%) and falls (33.60%). There was a strong correlation between AIS grade at admission and last follow-up. The most common AIS grade at the last follow-up was E (34.01%) caused mostly by falls (57.48%), followed by A (31.16%) caused mostly by interpersonal violence (76.27%). The reported employment rate dropped from 75.56% to 18.94% before and after TSCI ( p