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released: 22 Jan 2009 author: Cripps R media release

Severe spinal cord injury (SCI) is a very debilitating and costly 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 spinal units in Australia.

ISSN 1444-3791; ISBN 978 1 74024 818 1; Cat. no. INJCAT 119; 44pp.; $30.00

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Publication table of contents

  • Preliminary material
    • Half title and verso pages
    • Title and verso pages
    • Contents
    • Acknowledgments
    • Executive summary
  • Body sections
    1. Introduction
    2. Overview of SCI case registrations in 2006-07
    3. Incidence of persisting SCI in 2006-07
      1. Persisting SCI in 2006-07 and earlier years
      2. State or territory of usual residence
      3. Remoteness of residence
      4. Age and sex distribution
      5. Socioeconomic characteristics
    4. Clinical characteristics of persisting SCI cases
      1. Neurological level of injury
      2. Neurological category
      3. Duration of initial care
    5. Factors associated with the SCI event
      • 5.1 Mechanism of injury
        1. Traffic-Land transport: Motor vehicle occupants
        2. Traffic-Land transport: Unprotected road users
        3. Non-traffic-Land transport
        4. Falls
        5. Struck by or collision with a person or object
        6. Water-related
        7. Other causes
      • 5.2 Type of activity at time of injury
  • End matter
    • 6 Glossary
    • Appendixes
      • Appendix 1
        • Structure and operation of ASCIR
        • Data issues
          • Scope and ascertainment of SCI case registration data
            • Rates
            • Tabulations and data reported
            • Confidence intervals
            • Assignment and aggregation of NDS-IS codes
            • Assignment to ASGC remoteness zones
    • References
    • List of tables
    • List of figures

Recommended citation

Cripps R 2009. Spinal cord injury, Australia, 2006-07. Injury research and statistics series no. 48. Cat. no. INJCAT 119. Canberra: AIHW.