title: [Analysis on body impairment assessment upon 447 thoracolumbar, spinal injury cases in traffic accidents].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To discuss the relation between degree of body impairment and that of thoracolumbar spinal injuries resulting from road traffic accidents, and sum up the experiences in body impairment assessment and its regularity.
  
  
  METHODS
  For comprehensive body impairment assessment, 477 cases of thoracolumbar spinal injuries in road accidents have been sorted out, reassessed and rediagnosed. In addition, analyses have been undertaken about their treatment, the assessment of the degree of their thoracolumbar dysfunction,nerve dysfunction and the relations between injuries and sequelaes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The analyses show that the degree of thoracolumbar dysfunction and that of the post-injury nerve dysfunction don't necessarily depend on the quantity and degree of spinal injuries. However, the position suffering from the thoracolumbar spinal injuries has an immense impact on the thoracolumbar dysfunction, and the nerve impairment result mainly from the T1-1L spinal injuries. The research also shows that there has been a high misdiagnosis rate in hospital about the spinal injuries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In body impairment assessment, the cause and effect relations between the injury and degree of injury extent should be analyzed, the injury extent should be employed as principal evidence, and the degree of spinal dysfunction should be taken into greater consideration.
authors.affiliation: Nanchong Municipal Traffic Police Sub-brigade, Nanchong 637000, China.
authors.forename: Sheng-yan
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Si-xing
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xing-yao
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Kuan-lin
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000293:injuries* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009420:Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013124:Spinal Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae / Q000293:injuries* / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult