Characteristics and outcomes of traumatic spinal cord injury in a low-resource setting.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is relatively rare and affects an estimated 15-40 per 1 million people globally. All patients admitted from October 2016 to June 2017 at Kamuzu Central Hospital, Malawi with a spinal column injury were retrospectively studied. Out of 1442 patients, 46 had vertebral column injury, and half of these had neurological deficit. The most common mechanism of injury was road traffic crash (45.7%), and cervical SCIs were the most common (41.3%). The overall mortality was 15.2%, thus demonstrating devastating morbidity and mortality. Owing to the latter, and the relative lack of operative facilities, primary prevention remains the most effective way to attenuate the tragedy of SCIs.
['Eaton|Jessica|J|', 'Mukuzunga|Cornelius|C|', 'Grudziak|Joanna|J|', 'Charles|Anthony|A|']
D000328:Adult D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008295:Malawi D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D012189:Retrospective Studies D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries D016896:Treatment Outcome
spinal cord injury low-resource setting Trauma