Incidence of Acute Traumatic Hospitalized Spinal Cord Injury in the United States, 1970–19771

The incidence of hospitalization for acute spinal cord injury in the United States from 1970 to 1977 has been calculated using a detailed subsetting of the National Hospital Discharge Survey (HDS). The overall eight-year incidence was 40.1 (SE = 3.8) per million population in the United States. Patients admitted for spinal cord injury were more than twice as likely to be male (male to female ratio = 2.4:1 and spinal cord injury was particularly common in males ages 20-24 (118.3/10(6)) and 25-34 (98.7/10(6). Blacks also appeared to be at twice the risk than whites. Case fatality during hospitalization was 11.2% overall, was 36% more common in males and increased markedly with advanced age with 35.9% of males greater than or equal to 65 years old dying during hospitalization. The HDS data are in general agreement with previous regional studies of incidence and appear to provide a reasonably valid and cost-effective method for monitoring the national incidence of hospitalized spinal cord injury.