A NATIONWIDE EPIDEMIOLOGIC-STUDY OF SPINAL-CORD INJURY IN GERIATRIC-PATIENTS IN TAIWAN

This prospective epidemiological survey of spinal cord injury (SCI) in Taiwan was carried out among patients attended by physicians from var ious medical centers and general hospitals all over Taiwan from July 1 992 to June 1996. In all, 1,586 new cases of SCI were registered, repr esenting about 70% of all possible SCI cases in Taiwan. The observed a verage annual incidence of SCI in Taiwan was 18.8 per million people, whereas it was 47.5 for the geriatric section. The mean age was 46.1 y ears with a plateau distribution after 20 years and older. Geriatric v ictims (297 cases, 18.7%, group II) formed a major section of SCI case s in Taiwan. Another group of younger SCI patients (15-64 years old, 1 ,232 cases, group I) was selected for comparison. The results showed t hat the male-to-female ratio, pattern of neurological deficits, and ca uses of injury and death of geriatric SCI patients differed significan tly from those of the younger SCI group. Elderly women were exposed to a higher risk of SCI than younger women (M/F ratio 1.7:1). Falls were the leading cause of geriatric SCI, and two thirds of them occurred o n level ground. Traffic accidents accounted for a third of SCI cases, half of which involved motorcycle accidents, a fifth of them pedestria ns. Quadriplegia and quadriparesis occurred more frequently among elde rly cases of SCI than in the younger group and a higher proportion of them died of SCI complications. Two thirds of elderly SCI patients rec overed well enough after comprehensive treatment to be able to take ca re of themselves at home. The government should initiate programs of p revention to reduce the prevalence of geriatric SCI in Taiwan.