TRAUMATIC SPINAL-CORD INJURIES IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY - AN EPIDEMIOLOGIC-STUDY

This is a retrospective study conducted in all of the hospitals of Ist anbul to survey new patients with a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) in 1992. In that year 152 new traumatic SCI were identified. The esti mated annual incidence was 21 per million population. The male/female ratio was 3/1. The mean age was 33, being 34 for male patients and 31 for female patients. 72% of all patients were under the age of forty. The major causes of SCI were falls (43%) and car accidents (41%), foll owed by being struck by an object (7%), gunshot injury (5%), stab inju ry (2%). Fifty patients (33%) were tetraplegic and 102 (67%) paraplegi c. Regarding the tetraplegic patients the commonest level was C5, in t hose who were paraplegic L1. There were no cases at levels C1, T1 or T 2. The commonest associated injury was head trauma, followed by fractu res of an extremity (or extremities). Severe head trauma, as a major c ause of death, may obscure the actual incidence of SCI in this study. Accidental falls (exceeding road accidents) were mostly due to falls f rom buildings and accidents on work premises.