Five-Year Retrospective Study of the Prevalence and Outcome of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Cases in a Rural Tertiary Hospital.

Traumatic spinal cord injury(TSCI) is a relative common neurosurgical emergency. It is a significant cause of disability and mortality among the younger production age. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and outcome of TSCI in patients managed at a tertiary health institution in a rural community in Nigeria.
Methodology: This study was a 5-year descriptive cross-sectional retrospective study between January 2015- December 2019.This study was carried out over 18-month at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, from the time of ethical approval. Information of patients who had traumatic spinal injury that met the inclusion criteria were retrieved, collated and analyzed.
Statistical Analysis: Data were collected using validated structures proforma, coded and analyzed using SPSS (Version 21, Chicago, Illinois). A test of significance of association between dependent and independent variables was done using the Chi-square. A P-value of <0.05 was taken as statistically significant
Result: From the 1,945 trauma cases managed between 2015-2019, 234 patients had TSCI and 101 patients met the inclusion criteria, which shows a prevalence of 5.2%. The age of the patients ranged from 0-98years with a mean age of 39.94. The most affected group was 18-35years accounting for 43.6%. Result showed male to female ratio of 4:1. Civil servants and drivers were mostly affected. Majority of the cases was due to road traffic accident (RTA), accounting for 63.4%. While the least is gunshot, accounting for just 1%. Mortality rate was 9.9%.
Conclusion: Traumatic spinal injury has been shown to affect mostly the productive age group