Extract
The vast majority of spinal column and cord injuries that are sustained in
North America occur in patients who are between the ages of fifteen and forty
years. Children rarely have spinal injuries and even less frequently have
spinal cord injuries. Patients who are younger than fifteen years of age
account for fewer than 10% of patients who sustain spinal cord
injuries1,2.
The Canadian National Trauma Registry data reflect a similar conclusion: in
1998, there were twenty-eight spinal cord injuries nationally in children who
were younger than fifteen years of age in comparison with 511 injuries
reported for young adults from fifteen to forty years of
age3. The base
population-adjusted incidence suggests an annual pediatric spinal cord injury
rate of 1 in 1,000,000, and an annual rate of young adult injury of 17 in
1,000,000.