Risk of thoracolumbar fractures doubled in victims of motor vehicle collisions with cervical spine fractures.
BACKGROUND
An association between cervical fractures and thoracolumbar fractures after blunt trauma has long been assumed, but not adequately demonstrated. We sought to determine the actual association between these injuries in a large nationwide data set.


METHODS
The National Trauma Databank (NTDB) was queried for victims of blunt vehicular trauma with at least minimal injury. An odds ratio was calculated for the association between cervical spine fractures and thoracolumbar fractures.


RESULTS
Overall 190,183 NTDB patient records met the criteria of a motor vehicle crash with more than minimal injury. Of these 7.51% (14,292) had cervical spine fractures, 4.73% (8,996) had thoracic spine fractures, 5.93% (11,280) had lumbar spine fractures, and 9.79% (18,623) had either thoracic or lumbar fractures. Of patients with a cervical spine fracture, 13.06% (2,433) also had a thoracic or lumbar fracture, whereas among patients without cervical spine fracture only 6.91% (11,859) had a thoracolumbar fracture. The odds ratio (OR) for a thoracolumbar fracture in the presence of a cervical spine fracture was 2.02 (p < 0.0001) (95% confidence interval 1.9318-2.1201).


CONCLUSIONS
These data confirm a strong association between cervical spine fractures and thoracolumbar fractures after blunt vehicular trauma, and support the practice of imaging the complete spine when a cervical fracture is identified.
Winslow
James E
JE
Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157-1089, USA. jwinslow@wfubmc.edu
Hensberry
Rebecca
R
Bozeman
William P
WP
Hill
Keith D
KD
Miller
Preston R
PR
D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000293:injuries*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000293:injuries*; D009104:Multiple Trauma; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae / Q000293:injuries*