People with Spinal Cord Injury in China.

EPIDEMIOLOGY OF SPINAL CORD INJURY IN CHINA Only sparse epidemiological data on spinal cord injury (SCI) in mainland China is available. Epidemiological studies are predominantly based on retrospective chart reviews of selected hospitals in particular regions and cities. Prevalence data are currently not available and studies of nontraumatic SCI are largely lacking. China has no central registry for SCI. However, a nationwide trauma registry comprising all military hospitals exists. Estimates of the incidence of SCI exist for Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. Incidence rates ranged from 23.7 per million (Tianjin) and 25 per million (Shanghai) between 2004 and 2008 to 60 per million in Beijing. Evidence suggests that the incidence of SCI in China increased dramatically during the past decade. A study based on data of the aforementioned trauma registry found a staggering increase of spinal trauma in the period from 2001 to 2007, which was mainly due to an increase of spinal trauma due to motor vehicle crashes and falls. Spinal trauma accounted for 4.68% of all trauma cases, and SCI accounted for 0.74%. A similar trend was found by Ning et al. for the annual incidence of traumatic SCI in Tianjin between 2004 and 2008 based on a retrospective chart review of 15 tertiary hospitals able to treat traumatic SCI. Yang et al. found that the percentage of patients hospitalized in second grade A hospitals located in Guangdong China increased from 7% to 14% from 2003 to 2011. As in many other countries, males are more likely to have a traumatic SCI thanwomen.Male-to-female ratios ranged from 3.1:1 in Beijing to 5.6:1 in Tianjin. The mean age ranged from 41.7 years (SD not reported) in Beijing to mean (SD) 46.0 (14.2) years in Tianjin, with the largest proportion in the age group between 30 and 50 years. Several studies also