Spinal cord injury, Australia 2002-03

Raymond Cripps

May 2004
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Canberra
AIHW cat. no. INJCAT 64

Severe spinal cord injury (SCI) is a very debilitating injury.

This report presents information from the Australian Spinal Cord Injury Register (ASCIR) on cases in the year 2002-03. During the year, 245 new cases of SCI from traumatic causes were registered in Australia, an age-adjusted incidence rate of 12.4 cases per million population. The most common clinical outcome of SCI was incomplete tetraplegia (102 cases).

45% of cases were related to road transport, and 7% to water-related activities. Cases also occurred during sport and work. Falling was the commonest type of event leading to traumatic SCI at older ages.

The ASCIR is a collaborative activity of the AIHW National Injury Surveillance Unit and all of the specialist spinal units in Australia.

The report is available as a PDF document (~ 377 Kb).

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