AUTHOR=Jiang Bin , Sun Dongling , Sun Haixin , Ru Xiaojuan , Liu Hongmei , Ge Siqi , Fu Jie , Wang Wenzhi 

TITLE=Prevalence, Incidence, and External Causes of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury in China: A Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Survey

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2021.784647

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2021.784647

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=Background and purpose: The epidemiological characteristics of Traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) in China are unclear. Thus, we aimed to prevalence, incidence and external causes of TSCI in China nationwide.
Methods: In 2013, we conducted a nationally representative, door-to-door epidemiological survey on TSCI in China using a complex, multistage, probability sampling design.
Results: In China, the point prevalence of TSCI standardized to the China census population 2010 was 569.7 (95% CI: 514.2–630.4) per 1,000,000 in the population, 753.6 (95% CI: 663.3–854.3) per 1,000,000 among men, and 387.7 (95% CI: 324.8–461.1) per 1,000,000 among women. The incidence of TSCI standardized to the China census population 2010 was 49.8 (95% CI: 34.4–70.7) per 1,000,000 per year in the population, 63.2 (95% CI: 38.9–98.5) per 1,000,000 among men, and 36.9 (95% CI: 19.5–65.9) per 1,000,000 among women. Among the 415 TSCI events in 394 prevalent cases, the top three injury causes were falls (55.2%), motor vehicle collisions (MVCs, 26.5%) and strike injuries (10.1%), while other injury causes including gunshot and explosion accounted for 8.2%. Among the 394 prevalent cases, the mean age of patients at the time of injury was 43.7±17.1 years; the male-to-female ratio was 1.86:1.
Conclusions: It is estimated that there are 759,302 prevalent patients with TSCI in total and 66,374 new TSCI cases annually in China. Falls and MVCs are still 2 major external causes for TSCI in China.