Traumatic Spinal Injury among Patients with Spinal Injuries Admitted to the Spine Unit of a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

Introduction: Traumatic spinal injury is a major source of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. The number of spinal injuries is growing annually but epidemiological and demographic features may be different in different regions. This study aims to find out the prevalence of traumatic spinal injury among patients with spinal injuries admitted to the spine unit of a tertiary care centre.

Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study was done on a total of 102 traumatic spinal injury patients admitted to the spine unit of a tertiary care centre from 1st June, 2019 to 31st May, 2021 after receiving ethical approval from the Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 077/78-09). Demographic details, mode of injury, morphology, patterns of fractures, neurological level, and management methods in the hospital were recorded. Convenience sampling was done. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science version 24.0. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and percentages for binary data.

Results: Among 130 spinal injury patients, the prevalence of traumatic spinal injury was found to be 102 (78.46%) (71.39-85.53 at 95% Confidence Interval). The most common mode of spinal injury was due to falls in 80 (78.43%) cases.

Conclusions: The prevalence of traumatic spinal injury was higher when compared to the other studies done in similar settings.

Keywords: falls; polytrauma; spinal cord injuries; trauma.