Epidemiology of non-traumatic spinal cord injury in Ireland – a prospective population-based study

Objective: To carry out a study of non-traumatic spinal cord injury (NTSCI) epidemiology in Ireland Design: Prospective study of all new incident cases of NTSCI during 2017 Setting: Republic of Ireland Participants: All persons with a newly acquired NTSCI Interventions: None Outcome measures: Crude and age/sex specific incidences; ISCoS core dataset and non-traumatic dataset; population denominator was 2016 national census figures, adjusted to 2017. Results: Overall crude incidence of NTSCI in the Republic of Ireland in 2017 was 26.9 per million per year. Mean age at onset was 56.6 (SD 17.7) years. Females accounted for 51.2% of cases. Most frequent grade of ASIA impairment scale (AIS) was AIS D. Most common etiology was degenerate conditions (48.8%) followed by neoplastic (26.4%). The most common pattern of onset (51.2%) was lengthy (greater than one month). Conclusions: Incidence of NTSCI is more than double that for traumatic SCI in the Republic of Ireland. This suggests that the delivery of rehabilitation services to patients with spinal cord injuries requires prompt review and expansion.