SCI statistics

[Pony]

I've never really looked at stats concerning SCI before, and while not everybody on here is SCI, i thought this was interesting. Let me hear your feedback about some of the numbers.

Spinal Cord Injury Facts & Statistics

Think you know the facts about spinal cord injuries? Here is some information that may surprise you.
Who Do Spinal Cord Injuries Affect in the United States?

* 250,000 Americans are spinal cord injured.
* 52% of spinal cord injured individuals are considered paraplegic and 47% quadriplegic.
* Approximately 11,000 new injuries occur each year.
* 82% are male.
* 56% of injuries occur between the ages of 16 and 30.
* The average age of spinal cord injured person is 31.
* SCI injuries are most commonly caused by:
o Vehicular accidents 37%
o Violence 28%
o Falls 21%
o Sports-related 6% (2/3 of these from diving)
o Other 8%
* The most rapidly increasing cause of injuries is due to violence; vehicular accident injuries are decreasing in number.
* 89% of all SCI individuals are discharged from hospitals to a private home, 4.3% are discharged to nursing homes.
* Only 52% of SCI individuals are covered by private health insurance at time of injury.


Total Number of People with SCI

* 82% male, 18% female
* Highest per capita rate of injury occurs between ages 16-30
* Average age at injury - 33.4
* Median age at injury - 26
* Mode (most frequent) age at injury 19
* Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of SCI (44%), followed by acts of violence (24%),falls (22%) and sports (8%), other (2%)
* 2/3 of sports injuries are from diving
* Falls overtake motor vehicles as leading cause after age 45
* Acts of violence and sports cause less injuries as age increases
* Acts of violence have overtaken falls as the second most common source of spinal cord injury
* Marital status at injury:
o Single 53%
o Married 31%
o Divorced 9%
o Other 7%
* 5 years post-injury:
o 88% of single people with SCI were still single vs. 65% of the non-SCI population
o 81% of married people with SCI were still married vs. 89% of the non-SCI population
* Employment status among persons between 16 and 59 years of age at injury:
o Employed 58.8%
o Unemployed 41.2%
(includes: students, retired, and homemakers)
* Employed 8 years post-injury:
o Paraplegic 34.4%
o Quadriplegic 24.3%

[laurasweetou]

If most are men, and more than half are single and stay single...Why is it so hard to find you guys?

[obscure]

Agreed. Where are you all hiding?

[shouldbestudying]

You just have to know where to look

[obscure]

And my town definitely isn't the best place for that! We had an article not too long ago in my university's paper about a paraplegic mother visiting her daughter on campus and not being able to get around at all for how badly it was layed out. She couldn't get into her daughter's dorm, into the main administration building...

[sidney]

obscure said:

Agreed. Where are you all hiding?

We're right here!

[parapowered]

laurasweetou said:

If most are men, and more than half are single and stay single...Why is it so hard to find you guys?

I did the math and there are 205,000 SCI males. I recall a while back that the female Dev number was several hundred. If you ladies think you have a hard time finding us, imagine the next-to-impossible task of finding you! Best case scenario is a 500-to-1 ratio............so ladies take your pick

[xxx]

from a medical article:

www.emedicine.com/pmr/topic182.htm#section~epidemiology

[Ouch]

Yeah, ladies...think we're a hard find...it's much harder the other way around.

The numbers seem surprising to me in the fact that there are less than I thought.

[Pony]

I, too, was surprised at how many more males were SCI, as opposed to females, but on 2nd thought it makes more sense coz guys are nutty, diving off bridges and driving like drunk maniacs, like i did as a young wild buck.

One thing interesting about this site, it's the only place i can think of that girls are ATTRACTED to dudes in chairs. I'd like to see statistics on how many girls (general population) and healthcare workers with exposure to chairdudes to survey their feeling towards guys in chairs. If there's any college students looking to do a paper, it would be interesting topic. I, personally, think society avoids this topic like a disease. In fact, when friends are looking to hook a friend up with somebody, i'm completely overlooked, even though i usually surpass most ABs in relationship-skills. it's ok, i understand the prejudice, but nevertheless, it's hurtful.

[Lazy Jenny]

It's not the chair, Tony. It's the tights

[Triassic]

Right mate, but you've got those big ol' Crocodile Dundee bowie knives, no?

[laurasweetou]

Lazy said:

It's not the chair, Tony. It's the tights

You go Jenny! Tony wants to borrow my leggings...skulls and crossbones

[devogirl]

I've heard that 80% male statistic before. Another reason to be glad I'm a female devo, ha ha.
The other statistics are not surprising, and reflect what I've heard from you guys here on the board and elsewhere. Most guys I know seem to have been injured around age 19-21, and very often alcohol was involved.
Of course those studies don't break it down by race. The joke I always heard from the guys at the w/c basketball games was that the white guys were injured riding motorcycles and the black guys were shot.

[obscure]

Lazy said:

It's not the chair, Tony. It's the tights

Agreed.