TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - The characteristics of traumatic spinal cord injuries at a referral hospital in Northern Tanzania
JO  - Spinal cord series and cases
A1  - Rashid, Sakina Mehboob
A1  - Jusabani, Mubashir Alavi
A1  - Mandari, Faiton Ndesanjo
A1  - Dekker, Marieke Cornelia Johanna
SP  - 17021
EP  - 17021
VL  - 3
IS  - 
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 2058-6124
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/scsandc.2017.21
ID  - ref1
ER  -