#102-S identification of traumatic spinal cord injuries in alberta, canada

Methods: Records from 3 sources were searched to identify new cases of SCI in the province of Alberta, Canada from April 1, 1997 to March 31, 2000. The first source was administrative data from the Alberta Department of Health and Wellness (ADHW). In Alberta, all medically necessary hospital and physician services are provided through a publicly funded health care plan, and records of these services are maintained by ADHW. The database includes a unique identifier for individuals, demographic information, and multiple ICD-9-CM diagnostic and procedure codes. A search was conducted to identify all hospitalizations for SCI (ICD-9-CM codes 806.x or 952.x). The second data source was the Alberta Trauma Registry (ATR), a database of all injured patients admitted to a trauma center in Alberta with an Injury Severity Score ⩾12. The ATR was searched using ICD-9-CM codes. The third source was death certificates from the Medical Examiner's Office (ME). A keyword search (cervical, spinal or neck) identified potential SCI-related deaths and a manual chart review confirmed a SCI.Results: ADHW files identified 429 cases of SCI. An additional 28 cases were identified from the ATR. From the ME, a further 55 people were identified, of whom 50 died at the scene of injury. For those individuals who were transported to hospital (n = 462), only 4 were located in all 3 data sources. It was expected that all of the 224 ATR cases would be identified in the ADHW database, however, only 196 (87.5%) were identified in both files. Using all 3 sources, 512 individuals sustained a SCI during the 3-year period for an estimated SCI incidence rate of 5.8/100,000 population/year.Conclusion: Multiples sources of data were required in order to provide an accurate estimate of traumatic SCI in Alberta. Reliance on any one source could result in an underestimate of the true incidence of SCI.