Article

Globally map non-traumatic spinal cord injury (NTSCI) incidence, prevalence, survival, level of injury and aetiology.
Propose a research framework for NTSCI prevention and launch a repository of
NTSCI data.Setting:Initiative of the International Spinal Cord Society Prevention
Committee. Methods: Literature search of Medline and Embase (1959-June 2011).
Relevant articles in any language regarding adults with NTSCI were included.
Stratification of information about incidence and prevalence into
green/yellow/orange/red data quality 'zones' and comparisons between World Health
Organisation (WHO) regions and countries.Results:Three hundred and seventy-seven
abstracts reviewed-45 of these from 24 countries in 12 of the 21 WHO global
regions had relevant information. Only one publication had survival data.
Prevalence data for NTSCI existed for only two countries, India (prevalence of 2
310/million population, Kashmir region) and Canada (prevalence of 1 120/million
population). The incidence rates for WHO regions were: Asia Pacific, high income
20/million population/year; Australasia (26/million population/year); Western
Europe median of 6/million population/year; North America, high income median
76/million population/year (based on poor-quality studies); and Oceania 9/million
population/year. Developed countries tended to have a higher proportion of cases
with degenerative conditions and tumours. Developing countries, in comparison,
tended to have a higher proportion of infections, particularly tuberculosis and
HIV, although a number also reported tumours as a major
cause.Conclusions:Insufficient survival, prevalence and incidence data are a
predominant finding of this review. The piecemeal approach to epidemiological
reporting of NTSCI, particularly failing to include sound regional population
denominators, has exhausted its utility. Minimum data collection standards are required.

Langue : ANGLAIS