A NATIONWIDE EPIDEMIOLOGIC-STUDY OF SPINAL-CORD INJURIES IN TAIWAN FROM JULY 1992 TO JUNE 1996

This prospective epidemiological survey of spinal cord injury (SCI) in Taiwan was carried out by recruiting patients attended by physicians from various medical centers and general hospitals all over Taiwan fro m July 1992 to June 1996. A total of 6,410 cases of traumatic spinal f racture were registered among which were 1,586 new cases of SCI. The r esults represented 70% of the scope of SCI in Taiwan. The observed ave rage annual incidence of SCI in Taiwan was 18.8 per million population . The mean age was 46.1 years-old with a plateau distribution for over 20 years and older. Geriatric victims are a major group of SCI in Tai wan. The male to female ratio was 3 to 1. The leading causes of SCI we re traffic accidents and accidental falls. Motorcycle collisions accou nted for 62% of the traffic accidents, and as most of the motorcycle r iders were not helmet users, head injury became the major associated i njury of SCI in Taiwan. The effectiveness of the comprehensive care sy stem for SCI patients in Taiwan is relatively good, as reflected by th e low rates of complications of SCI, the low mortality rate (6.6%), an d the high percentage (67.4%) of SCI patients achieving self-care ulti mately at home after rehabilitation. The analysis of person days healt hy life loss and quality adjusted survival time revealed that SCI pati ents in Taiwan required 4 years to cope with the morbidity, and on ave rage, could return to the main stream of life for another 30 years.