Paraplegia
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This survey of spinal cord injuries in Taipei city from January 1978 to December 1981 was carried out by a review of the hospital records. During these four years 560 patients with acute spinal cord injury (SCI) were admitted to the hospitals in the city of Taipei. Of these, 123 were inhabitants of Taipei city, showing the annual incidence of SCI in Taipei to be 14.6 per million population. ⋯ The causes of SCI were traffic accidents (44.5%), accidental falls (28.5%), struck by object (14.6%) and sports injury (3.4%). The mortality rate was 6.0%. Respiratory complication was the leading cause of death, accounting for 58% of the total deaths.