Study design: Retrospective cohort.
Objective: To evaluate the survival outcomes in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI).
Setting: A teaching hospital in Brazil.
Methods: A total of 434 patients diagnosed with TSCI (2004-2014) were included. Overall survival, standardized mortality ratios (SMR), and causes of death were assessed by Student's t-test, χ2 test, Kaplan-Meier analysis, and Cox proportional-hazards regression.
Results: The mean follow-up was 4.8 years (±3.3 years). Individuals with tetraplegia had a median survival of 11 years, with participants in the paraplegia group not reaching median survival. The overall mortality rate was 37 per 1000 person-years. Age-adjusted SMR was 28.8 (95% CI: 22.8-36). There were 77 deaths with 56 defined causes, of which pneumonia was the most frequent (35.7%). Combined infectious etiologies caused 55.3% of deaths. Multivariate analysis revealed higher mortality among individuals with tetraplegia vs. paraplegia in the first 2 years post injury (HR = 8.28, 95% CI: 2.76-24.80), after 2 years post injury (HR = 2.35, 95% CI: 1.31-4.24), and in all years combined (HR = 3.36, 95% CI: 2.04-5.52).
Conclusion: Mortality among patients with TSCI was 28.8 times higher than in the reference population. In more than half of the cases, the cause of death was linked to infectious diseases. Pneumonia caused two times more deaths in individuals with tetraplegia than in individuals with paraplegia, with a higher impact in the first 2 years post injury. Reported findings indicate the need for a surveillance and prevention program with emphasis on vaccination and respiratory rehabilitation.