Epidemiology, Clinical Features and Consequences of Spinal Cord Injury in Children.

OBJECTIVE: To describe epidemiology, clinical features and clinical consequences of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) in children.

STUDY DESIGN: Case series.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Paraplegic Centre, Hayatabad, Peshawar, from July 2011 to March 2017.

METHODOLOGY: SCI patients having age up to 15 years, admitted to Paraplegic Centre, were inducted in 2017. Exclusion criteria was foreign-national SCI patients, and/or SCI patients re-admitted to paraplegic centre. List of all SCI patients admitted to the centre was retrieved and 102 patients were identified. Data of these patients was evaluated for demographic information, physiological intactness (complete SCI/incomplete SCI), neurological level and complications.

RESULTS: A total of 102 patients (66 males and 36 females) with mean age 10.9 ±3.7 years were included in this study. Firearm injury was the most common cause (n=39, 38.2%) of SCI in these patients, followed by fall from height (n=23, 22.5%), road traffic accidents (n=14, 13.7%), and weight fallen over (n=14, 13.7%). Bomb blast injury (n=7, 6.9%), diving accident (n=3, 2.9%), and sports related injuries (n=2, 2.0%). Majority of the patients (n=82, 80.4%) had complete SCI (ASIA A); the commonest SCI level was thoracic region (n=59, 57.8%) and the least reported region was (n=14, 13.7%) cervical. Out of the total, 50 (49.0%) patients had pressure ulcer in which 15 (30.0%) patients were having grade IV pressure ulcer, 9 (18.0%), 15 (30.0%) and 11 (22.0%) patients were had grade I, grade II and grade III pressure ulcer, respectively.

CONCLUSION: Majority of causes of SCI in children are similar to those reported in adult population. However, the commonest causes of SCI in children in Pakistan were firearm injury and bomb blast, which are rarely reported in other countries. Like adult population, these children with SCI are prone to developing pressure ulcer.