Prevalence, Incidence, and External Causes of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury in China: A Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Survey

Bin Jiang; Dongling Sun; Haixin Sun; Xiaojuan Ru; Hongmei Liu; Siqi Ge; Jie Fu; Wenzhi Wang

doi:10.3389/fneur.2021.784647

Prevalence, Incidence, and External Causes of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury in China: A Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Survey

Front Neurol. 2022 Jan 20:12:784647. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2021.784647. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Bin Jiang^{1

2}, Dongling Sun^{1

2}, Haixin Sun^{1

2}, Xiaojuan Ru^{1

2}, Hongmei Liu^{1

2

3}, Siqi Ge^{1

2}, Jie Fu¹, Wenzhi Wang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuroepidemiology, Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² Beijing Municipal Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, Beijing, China.
³ National Office for Cerebrovascular Diseases (CVD) Prevention and Control in China, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Background and purpose: The epidemiological characteristics of traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) in China are unclear. Thus, we aimed to study prevalence, incidence, and external causes of TSCI in China nationwide.

Methods: In 2013, we conducted a nationally representative, door-to-door epidemiological survey on TSCI in China using a complex, multistage, probability sampling design.

Results: In China, the point prevalence of TSCI standardized to the China census population 2010 was 569.7 (95% CI: 514.2-630.4) per 1,000,000 in the population, 753.6 (95% CI: 663.3-854.3) per 1,000,000 among men, and 387.7 (95% CI: 324.8-461.1) per 1,000,000 among women. The incidence of TSCI standardized to the China census population 2010 was 49.8 (95% CI: 34.4-70.7) per 1,000,000 per year in the population, 63.2 (95% CI: 38.9-98.5) per 1,000,000 among men, and 36.9 (95% CI: 19.5-65.9) per 1,000,000 among women. Among the 415 TSCI events in 394 prevalent cases, the top three injury causes were falls (55.2%), motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) (26.5%), and strike injuries (10.1%), while other injury causes including gunshot and explosion accounted for 8.2%. Among the 394 prevalent cases, the mean age of patients at the time of injury was 43.7 ± 17.1 years; the male-to-female ratio was 1.86:1.

Conclusion: It is estimated that there are 759,302 prevalent patients with TSCI in total and 66,374 new TSCI cases annually in China. Falls and MVCs are still 2 major external causes for TSCI in China.

Keywords: China; external causes; incidence; prevalence; traumatic spinal cord injury.