title: Epidemiology of cervical spinal cord injury in eastern India: an autopsy-based study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cervical spinal cord injury is a major cause of fatality among trauma victims. Unlike developed countries, national spinal cord injury database is not maintained in India. Paucity of data hampers the understanding of epidemiology of the event in India. So, this study was conducted to ascertain the epidemiological pattern of death due to cervical spinal cord injury and to identify the risk factors; also to find the association of vertebral injuries with various epidemiological parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  Among autopsies conducted in Burdwan Medical College and Hospital from 2000 to 2010, cases with autopsy report mentioning "death due to cervical spinal cord injury" either primary or secondary were included in the study. It was a retrospective observational study based on autopsy report.
  
  
  RESULTS
  536 cases met the inclusion criteria. Among them 89.4% were male and 10.6% were female; 63.8% victims were young adults (20-39 years). Mean (plus or minus S.D.) age was 33.5 years (plus or minus 12.8). All, apart from 5.4%, suffered from single segment injury with commonest site being C3-C4 (37.3%). Highest number of trauma occurred between 6 am to 9 am, 56.6% of the victims died before hospitalisation. Commonest mode of injury was road traffic accident (52.2%) followed by fall from height (25.0%); 53.7% cases had vertebral fracture with dislocation, 34.3% had only vertebral fracture. Only dislocation was significantly high up to 19 years age (p<0.001) and among females (p=0.029). All elderly suffered from fracture.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study revealed an unusually high male:female ratio with much representation of the younger age groups in the injuries in comparison to other parts of world. In absence of national database, this result can be used as a surrogate data.
authors.affiliation: Pharmacology, Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital, Pandara, Bhubaneswar, India.
authors.forename: Suvam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Pratyay P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Datta
authors.forename: Moumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Suchibrata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De
authors.forename: Kazi A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Firdoush
authors.forename: Tanmay
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sardar
authors.forename: Debalina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Datta
authors.forename: Tapan K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Jana
authors.forename: Mrinal K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Soumyadip
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.forename: Sujit N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Nandy
authors.forename: Parthasarathi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.forename: Sabyasachi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Santra
authors.forename: Chinmoy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000401:mortality; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000401:mortality*; D055815:Young Adult