Epidemiology of traumatic spinal cord injury in Ireland, 2017-2022

Study design: Retrospective population based study on traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) in Ireland. Objectives: To gather the most recent epidemiological data prior to the implementation of a new national trauma strategy. Also, to consider if the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on SCI epidemiology in Ireland. Setting: Republic of Ireland. Methods: All patients with TSCI discharged from the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH), the national acute SCI unit and two neurosciences centres were included. The International Spinal Cord Injury Core Data Set was collected on all patients at discharge from rehabilitation between 2017 and 2022. Results: Overall crude incidence of TSCI was 14 per million per year, ranging between 11.3 and 18.4. 12.7% of patients did not survive to discharge from hospital. In those completing rehabilitation, the mean age of injury onset was 50.1 years (SD 19.9). Males accounted for 75.7%. The most common impairment was incomplete tetraplegia, 45.3% of all TSCI. Leading aetiology was falls, 53.9% of injuries. Patients with incomplete tetraplegia and those whose cause of injury were falls were older than those with all other impairments and injury aetiologies (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Overall incidence of TSCI is similar to our previous studies. Also similar is the predominant pattern of older people sustaining falls resulting in incomplete tetraplegia.