Epidemiological profile of a pediatric population with acquired spinal cord injury from AACD: São Paulo/Brazil.

OBJECTIVE

To provide a retrospective analysis of pediatric patients with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), who were admitted for treatment and rehabilitation in a reference Brazilian medical center during the past 6 years.

METHODS

This retrospective analysis included 106 patients 16 years of age or younger who were admitted with SCI in our Rehabilitation Medical Center between April 2002 and June 2008. The patients admitted were analyzed according to their gender, age, origin region, cause and level of injury and clinical complications.

RESULTS/

CONCLUSIONS

The frequency corresponded to 5.4% of the total of SCI cases studied. The 106 patients reviewed included 67 boys (63.2%) and the mean age of 8.6 years. In all, 50.9% of the SCI have traumatic etiology. The most frequent causes were gunshot 42.6%, traffic accident 38.9%, diving 9.3% and fall 3.7%. The nontraumatic etiologies corresponded to 49.1% of the total patients. Overall, tumor (36.5%) and infection (19.2%) were the most frequent cause of spinal injuries. The average time between SCI event and arrival at the rehabilitation medical center was 27 months. The majority of patients were paraplegic (76.4%). In the first assessment 64.2% patients showed clinical complications, such as orthopedic deformity (69.1%), pressure ulcers (35.3%), spasticity (8.8%), obesity (2.9%). Pediatric SCI is a rare but devastating condition affecting the patient, patient's family and society. An understanding of the etiology and the frequency of pediatric SCI can improve prevention and treatment.