Spinal cord injury, Australia, 2006-07

Raymond A Cripps

January 2009
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Canberra
AIHW cat. no. INJCAT 119

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

This report presents information from the Australian Spinal Cord Injury Register (ASCIR) on 348 newly incident cases from trauma and disease in 2006–07. During the year, 272 new cases of SCI from traumatic causes were registered in Australia, an age-adjusted incidence rate of 14.9 cases per million population. The most common clinical outcome of SCI from traumatic causes was incomplete tetraplegia (98 cases).

Transport related injuries (52%) and falls (29%) accounted for over three-quarters of the 271 cases of traumatic SCI (one case under the age of 15 years was excluded from these analyses). Cases also occurred during sport (n = 21) and working for income, including travel to and from work (n = 37). Falling was the most common 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 units in Australia.

The report is available as a PDF document (~ 1052 Kb).

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