@article{ref1,
title="The characteristics of traumatic spinal cord injuries at a referral hospital in Northern Tanzania",
journal="Spinal cord series and cases",
year="2017",
author="Rashid, Sakina Mehboob and Jusabani, Mubashir Alavi and Mandari, Faiton Ndesanjo and Dekker, Marieke Cornelia Johanna",
volume="3",
number="",
pages="17021-17021",
abstract="STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. <br><br>OBJECTIVES: To describe the epidemiology of traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) in Northern Tanzania. SETTING: Main referral hospital for Northern Tanzania. <br><br>METHODS: A retrospective review of 125 TSCI cases admitted to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) over a period of 5 years. <br><br>RESULTS: We included 125 patients in the sample size, with a male majority of 107 (85.6%), giving a male-to-female ratio of 5.9:1. The mean age at injury was 39.9 (±16.0) years. Overall, 66 (52.8%) were farmers and an overwhelming majority (109 (87.2%)) were referrals from peripheral medical centres. Fall injuries accounted for 65 (52.0%) of the admissions and 49 (39.2%) were injured due to a Road Traffic Accident (RTA). Severity of injury was classified according to the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) and 57 (45.6%) injuries were categorised as AIS A and 68 (54.4%) as AIS BCD. Cervical level injuries (59 (47.2%)) were the most frequent among the cohort. The in-hospital mortality rate was 24.1%. <br><br>CONCLUSION: The majority of patients affected by TSCIs were young males and the most common cause was fall injuries. Cervical level injuries were the most common and in-hospital mortality was high.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2058-6124",
doi="10.1038/scsandc.2017.21",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/scsandc.2017.21"
}