Morbidity Aspects in Spinal Cord Injury Patients : Experience of the Spinal Unit at King Hussein Medical Center

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the frequency of medical complications in spinal cord injury patients, their demographic characteristics, extent and causes of their injury. Methods: The medical records of 190 patients with spinal cord injury patients who were admitted during 2008-2012 were enrolled in this study. Their demographic data, causes and extent of injury were analyzed. The American Spinal Injury Association impairment scale was used to categorize injury level and severity. The causes of morbidities surveyed were cardiovascular, respiratory, renal complications, pressure sores, spasticity and neurogenic pain. Results: A total of 190 cases were reviewed. The majority were predominantly males 152 (80%). The male/female ratio was 4:1, the mean age at the time of injury was 32 years. Their age ranged from (13-70 years). The vast majority was traumatic causes (n=167,88%) of which road traffic accidents were the main cause of their injury. Non-traumatic causes were recorded in 23 (12%) patients. Among the morbidities studied, pain was the dominant cause (45%) followed by urinary tract infection (30%), pressure sores (25%), spasticity (23%), thromboembolic complications (18%) and respiratory complications (10%). Conclusions: The most common causes of morbidity were pain followed by urinary tract infection and pressure sores. Effective prevention strategies should be applied as early as possible to reduce their occurrence in spinal cord injury patients. This study showed that traumatic causes and particularly road traffic accidents are the leading cause of spinal cord injury.