You may wonder how and why there are so many spinal cord injuries in the U.S. Here are some spinal cord injury statistics.
There are approximately 10,000-12,000 new traumatic spinal cord injuries per year in the United States. There are roughly 200,000 individuals living with a traumatic spinal cord injury in the United States.
Spinal Cord Injury Statistics: Most Common Causes
Motor vehicle accident: 34%
Falls: 19%
Gunshot wounds: 17%
Diving: 7%
Motorcycle crashes: 6%
Hit by a falling object: 3%
Medical or surgical complications: 2%
Pedestrian being struck by a vehicle: 2%
Stab wounds: 1%
Bicycle mishaps: 1%
Violent personal conflict: 1%
Other Spinal Cord Injury Statistics: Demographics
Age: The average age of the patient at the time of the spinal cord injury is 26 years.
Sex: Men make up 81.7% of spinal cord injuries.
Race: White 66%, African-American 21%, Hispanic 8.8%, Native-American 1.1%, Asian 1.6%, other 1.0%.
Education (at time of injury): Partly because of the young age of many people at the time of their spinal cord injury, 39.8% have less than a high school degree at the time of injury. Other educational levels: high school graduate 49.9%, associate degree 1.6%, bachelor’s degree 5.9%, master’s degree 1.3%, doctorate degree 0.8%, other 0.7 %.
Time: Most spinal cord injuries occur during the summer month of July, followed closely by June and August. February is the least common month of injury. Most injuries occur over the weekend, Saturday being the most common day of injury.
Marital status: 53.5% of individuals suffering a spinal cord injury have never been married at the time of injury. The divorce rate after spinal cord injury is higher than that of the general population. During the first three years after a spinal cord injury, the annual divorce rate is 2.3 times the general population. The divorce rate is lower for individuals who marry after the spinal cord injury, but this is still 1.7 times higher than the general population. Several factors increase the likelihood of becoming married after a spinal cord injury, including having a college degree, paraplegia, the ability to walk, independence with self-care and previously being divorced. Several factors increase the chance of a divorce for those individuals who were married at the time of their spinal cord injury. These include being younger, female, African-American, having no children, inability to walk and having a previous marriage that ended in a divorce.
Spinal Cord Injury Statistics: Area of Spine and Completeness of Injury
Cervical injuries account for 50.7% of cases compared to 35.1% occurring in the thoracic region and 11.0% in the lumbosacral region. The most common vertebra injured is the fifth cervical (C5) which accounts for 14.7%, followed by the fourth cervical vertebra (C4) 13.2%, sixth cervical vertebra (C6) 11.3%, twelfth thoracic vertebra (T12) 7.2%, (C7) 5.7%, and the first lumbar vertebra (L1) 5.0%.
Most common
Incomplete Tetraplegia: 29.5%
Complete Paraplegia: 27.9%
Incomplete Paraplegia: 21.3%
Complete Tetraplegia: 18.5%
The area of injury of the spine is often related to how the injury occurred. Individuals injured from motor vehicle crashes, recreational sports and falls often develop tetraplegia as opposed to paraplegia. Acts of violence account for only 1% of spinal cord injuries, but those related to gunshot wounds often result in paraplegia. Most gunshot wounds are made to the torso, where the thoracic and lumbar areas of the spinal cord are located, rather than to the neck.
Co-existing Injuries
Other broken bones: 29.3%
Loss of consciousness: 28.2%
Lung injury: 17.8%
Significant head injury: 11.5%
Spinal Cord Injury Statistics: Employment
Employment after a spinal cord injury is more likely for individuals who are younger, male, white, have a formal education and higher intelligence quotient (IQ) and sustained a less severe injury. Also, individuals who were employed at the time of injury are more highly motivated and those who have the ability to drive are more likely to return to work.
