Spinal cord injury incidence in Mississippi: a capture-recapture approach.
BACKGROUND
Many studies have investigated spinal cord injury incidence rates. Few, however, have adjusted for the underascertainment. The current study used the capture-recapture method to estimate the ascertainment-corrected spinal cord injury incidence rate in Mississippi.


METHODS
Two sources were used for case ascertainment: Mississippi's spinal cord injury registry and hospital reports. The two-sample capture-recapture method was used to adjust for undercount.


RESULTS
Two hundred one spinal cord injuries were reported to or found by the Mississippi State Department of Health in 1993, with a crude incidence rate of 7.8 per 100,000 population per year among hospital admissions and prehospital fatalities. Using the two-sample capture-recapture method, it is estimated that the incidence rate would be 9.3 per 100,000 population per year.


CONCLUSIONS
Capture-recapture estimates suggest that Mississippi's spinal cord injury incidence rate is more than twice the national average.
Surkin
J
J
Division of Epidemiology, Mississippi State Department of Health, Jackson, USA.
Smith
M
M
Penman
A
A
Currier
M
M
Harkey
H L
HL
Chang
Y F
YF
D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008922:Mississippi / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*