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Surgery
Original research
Traumatic spinal injuries in Saudi Arabia: a retrospective single-centre medical record review
  1. Mohammad O Alawad1,
  2. Nasser Alenezi1,
  3. Bander S Alrashedan1,
  4. Mohammed Alsabieh2,
  5. Abdulrahman Alnasser1,
  6. Rizwan Suliankatchi Abdulkader3,
  7. Saad Surur1
  1. 1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, King Saud Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  2. 2College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia
  3. 3Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  1. Correspondence to Dr Mohammad O Alawad; mooalawad{at}moh.gov.sa

Abstract

Objectives To describe the patterns and outcomes of traumatic spinal injuries (TSIs) in a tertiary care trauma centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Design Retrospective medical record review.

Setting Level 1 trauma centre for all patients presented from 1 February 2016 to 31 December 2018.

Participants and data Records of patients presenting with any spinal trauma were reviewed, and the data obtained included age, gender, nationality (as Saudi and non-Saudi), date of presentation, site of fracture/injury, associated injuries, mechanism of injury, presence of neurological involvement and hospital mortality.

Main outcomes Frequencies of different types of TSI across various subgroups.

Results We identified 692 patients who presented with TSI throughout the study period. The mean age was 36.9 years. Males represented 83.2% (n=576) of the sample size, and the most common mechanism of injury was motor vehicle collision (MVC), accounting for 66.8% of cases (n=462), while fall-related injuries were seen in 31.6% of cases (n=219). A total of 454 (65.6%) of all patients were Saudi, and 332 (73.1%) of the TSIs in Saudis were due to MVC. Non-Saudi cases accounted for 238 (34.4%) of all patients, and 89 (37.4%) of the non-Saudi injuries were due to falls from height, and this association was statistically significant (p<0.001).

Conclusion TSI was not thoroughly examined in Saudi Arabia; therefore, this study is considered the first to be done in the Kingdom using a representative sample. The fact that non-Saudi patients had a higher proportion of falls as a mechanism of injury should be taken into consideration in terms of raising awareness and taking more safety precautions, as most construction workers tend to be expatriates.

  • spine
  • trauma management
  • orthopaedic & trauma surgery
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-039768

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @alawadmo

    • Contributors MOA: analysis and interpretation of data and revision of the manuscript. NA: design of the study, acquisition of data and revision of the manuscript. BSA: acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data, and revision of the manuscript. AA: acquisition of data and revision of the manuscript. MA: acquisition of data and revision of the manuscript. RSA: analysis and interpretation of data and revision of the manuscript. SS: revision of the manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data availability statement Data are available upon reasonable request to corresponding author.