Abstract

A study on demographic pattern, causes and level of lesion in the spinal cord injured patients in Yazd City in 2009-2015

Author(s):Ahmad Zeinali, Ali Mellat, Abolghasem Rahimdel and Abdeh Alahsab

Spinal cord injury (SCI) refers to any lesion that could cause neurological damage that may affect motor, sensory, visceral, genital and nutritional functions. This in turn causes incomplete or complete motor dysfunction of upper or lower limbs or physical relation. The aim of this study was to investigate the on demographic pattern, causes and level of lesion in the spinal cord injured patients in Yazd City in 2009-2015.This study was a cross-sectional study on all the patients with spinal cord injury whose records were registered in Yazd Rehabilitation Department from 2009 till 2015. First, the questionnaire was prepared which contained demographic characteristics of patients with spinal cord injury as well as the causes, level of injury, age at the injury occurred, year in which injury occurred, lesion type, lesion location, marital status before and after the lesion and its complications, Then all patients with SCI who had records with the Rehabilitation Department of Yazd in 2009-2015 were included in the study. It should be noted that the level of injury was diagnosed by a physician and incomplete records were completed using telephone and data was taken directly from patients. Age, gender and type of lesion in the study were considered as variable. The results showed that the most important cause of injury was motor vehicle accident (66.7 %) followed by fall from a height (15.5 %), other causes 16.7 % (2 cervical tumors, 2 after surgery and 4 due to MS) and sports (1.2 %). In the two groups of spinal cord injury due to car accidents and falls from a height, men (67.17 %) accounted for a higher percentage of injuries, compared with women (18.5 %).Finally, according to the data obtained in this study and comparing this information with similar studies conducted in other countries, it seems that preventive strategies must be focused on preventing road accidents.

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