1Department of Physiotherapy, Sardar Bhagwan Singh Post-graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences and Research, Dehradun.
2Department of Physiotherapy, Manipal College of Allied Health Sciences (MCOAHS), Manipal, Karnataka, India.
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A postal survey from August 2004 to May 2006.
To ascertain the demographic characteristics of individuals with paraplegia in India.
India
The questionnaire was mailed to the identified individuals (n=600) whose addresses were obtained from the medical records section of our hospital and by contacting non-government organizations (NGOs), working for individuals with paraplegia in various cities. The demographic characteristics studied were age, gender, education, etiology, level of lesion, duration since injury and employment after injury.
The return rate was 46% (276/600). Falls from height was the leading cause (25%), followed by road traffic accidents (17.4%). Fifty-three subjects (19.2% each) were in the age group of 18-<25 and 40-<50 years age group. Majority of the subjects were men (233/276), had secondary educational level (148/276) and had the lesion at the lumbar level (60.1%).
Fall from a height is still the leading cause for spinal cord insult in India. Traumatic lesions are common in men and non-traumatic in women. Lumbar level is the commonest level of lesion in these individuals. Survival rate and the employment after injury are still towards the lower side.
This study was funded in part by “Indian Association of Physiotherapists”.
Demographics, etiology, age at injury, gender, level of lesion, spinal cord injury
