EPIDEMIOLOGY OF TRAUMATIC SPINAL CORD INJURY IN SALAH-ALDEEN PROVINCE- IRAQ

Abstract

Introduction: Spinal cord injury is expected to be highly prevalent in Iraq because of the exceptional situation of successive wars and violence in the last decades. Additionally, the rate of road traffic accidents, a leading cause of spinal injuries, is supposed also to be high due to the lack of transport safety regulations in the country. However, there is no national spinal cord injury registry currently and the epidemiological data about this problem in Iraq is scarce. The objective of this study is to investigate the epidemiology of traumatic spinal cord injury among patients admitted to Medical Rehabilitation Hospital (formerly Dijlah rehabilitation hospital) in Tikrit city/Salah-Aldeen province-Iraq. The obtained results may be helpful to establish a database for spinal injuries in this region that might be compiled later with data from other areas at the national level, and to plan for solid-base strategies of prevention and management of this devastating condition.

Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out over a period of one year (January-December 2019) in  Medical Rehabilitation Hospital Tikrit city, Salah-Aldeen province/Iraq. The epidemiological profiles and clinical characteristics of one hundred forty two (128 male and 14 females) traumatic spinal cord injured patients were investigated.

Results: The male/female ratio was (9.14:1). The mean age at injury was (32.2±15.3), with the higher occurrence in the (21-30 year) age group. Etiologically, the leading cause was war injury occurring in (66.19%), followed by road traffic accidents (16.90%), falls (14.08%) and sport injuries (2.81%). The injury was cervical in (17.60%), dorsal in (58.45%), lumbar in (21.83%) and sacral in (2.11%). Complete injury was reported in (71.83%) and incomplete in (28.16%).

Conclusions: This study highlights the high percentage of war injuries in Iraq that necessitate the development of firm regulations of firearms sale, transfer, possession, and use outside the framework of the government to protect the lives and health of citizens. Political and health authorities have to set regulations and means of decreasing the preventable causes of spinal injuries, like road safety regulations and means of prevention of diving-induced SCI, in addition to raising the public awareness about this condition. Further epidemiological studies in other parts of Iraq is recommended to obtain a full country profile of spinal cord injury that may set a base for any plan of prevention and management of this devastating illness.