Epidemiology of traumatic spinal cord injury

The worldwide incidence of spinal cord injury (SCI) is estimated to be 40 cases per million annually (Sekhon and Fehlings, 2001; National SCI Statistical Center, 2004). In the USA the incidence is approximately 11,000 new cases each year with an additional 4000 cases that do not survive injury long enough to reach a hospital. Prevalence data are less well substantiated due to variability in the severity criteria used to select cases. The estimated number of persons with SCI in the USA is 247,000 (National SCI Statistical Center, 2004).

The National SCI Statistical Center has collected data on approximately 13% of new cases of SCI since 1973. These data (National SCI Statistical Center, 2004) indicate that SCI primarily affects young males (average age at injury is 38 years, 78.2% males). However, with the aging of the USA population, there has been an increase in the proportion of people 60 or more years old at time of injury (4.7% prior to 1980 and 10.9% since 2000). While slightly over half of people with SCI have tetraplegia (56.4%), the proportion of injuries resulting in complete tetraplegia is decreasing and the proportion with incomplete tetraplegia and paraplegia is increasing. Average life expectancy for people with SCI is rising, although actual life expectancy varies with level and completeness of injury as well as age at time of injury.