Clinical characteristics of pediatric traumatic spinal cord injury in China: A single center retrospective study

Abstract

Objective

To investigate the clinical characteristics of children with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) admitted to a research rehabilitation center between 2011 and 2020, with a view to generate crucial data for understanding and prevention of pediatric traumatic SCI.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting

The National Rehabilitation Research Center of China, Beijing, China.

Participants

Medical records and imaging data of children with traumatic SCI admitted to the rehabilitation research center from 2011 to 2020.

Interventions

Not applicable.

Outcome Measures

Data on age, sex, cause of injury, neurological level of injury, impairment scale of SCI and details of spine fracture or dislocation were all collected and analyzed.

Results

A total of 351 patients were included in the study, including 133 males (37.9%) and 218 females (62.1%). There were 231 cases (65.8%) without spine fracture or dislocation. SCI without fracture or dislocation (SCIWORA) was the most common in children between the age of 5 and 14 years (77.9%), and injuries caused by sports were the most common in girls (90.8%). Among sports injuries, those due to a special dance movement called “Xia-Yao” in Chinese, which involves hyperextension of the trunk, constituted the majority, with the neurological level of injuries located predominantly in the middle (34.6%) and lower (44.2%) thoracic levels.

Conclusion

Girls between the ages of 5 and 14 years constituted the majority of SCIWORA injuries at the thoracic levels, which were caused mainly by “Xia-Yao”. Overall, careful attention should be paid to prevent this kind of injury in children.

Keywords:

• spinal cord injury
• children
• dorsiflexion
• dance

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the children and their parents involved in this study. They narrated the details of their injuries, which were painful for them; their earnest appeal to the community at large for prevention of recurrence of this tragedy is moving. Their selfless cooperation is deeply appreciated. We look forward to their speedy rehabilitation and integration into a new and meaningful life. We also thank International Science Editing (http://www.internationalscienceediting.com) for editing this manuscript.

Disclaimer statements

Contributors None.

Funding This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China: [Grant Number No. 2019YFB1312505].

Conflicts of interest All authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethics approval The authors certify that all applicable institutional and governmental regulations concerning the ethical use of medical records were followed during the course of this research.

Data availability statement Data are available upon reasonable request.