title: Traumatic spinal cord injuries--incidence, mechanisms and course.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The primary purpose of this article is to provide an overview of demography, neurological level of injury, extent of lesion, incidence, prevalence, injury mechanisms as well as lethality and causes of death associated with traumatic spinal cord injuries.
  
  
  METHODS
  A literature search was carried out in PubMed, with the search words "traumatic spinal cord injury"/"traumatic spinal cord injuries" together with "epidemiology", and "spinal cord injury"/"spinal cord injuries" together with "epidemiology".
  
  
  RESULTS
  The reported annual incidence of traumatic spinal cord injuries varies from 2.3 per million in a study from Canada to 83 per million in Alaska. The prevalence is given as ranging from 236 per million in India to 1800 per million in the USA. The average age at the time of injury varies from 26.8 years in Turkey to 55.5 years in the USA. The ratio of men to women varies from 0.9 in Taiwan to 12.0 in Nigeria. The most frequent cause of injury is traffic accidents, followed by falls, violence and sports/leisure activity incidents. Patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries have a higher lethality than the normal population. The most frequent causes of death today are airway problems, heart disease and suicide.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are large geographical differences in reported incidence, prevalence and lethality. This is attributable to differences in definition, inclusion, classification and patient identification procedures in the various studies, together with geographical and cultural differences and differences in prehospital and hospital treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, Norway. ellen.merete.hagen@helse-bergen.no
authors.forename: Ellen Merete
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Hagen
authors.forename: Tiina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rekand
authors.forename: Nils Erik
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Gilhus
authors.forename: Marit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grønning
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls; D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality