Who Do Spinal Cord Injuries Affect in the United States?

• 247,000 Americans are spinal cord injured (SCI).
• Every 48 minutes, an American is spinal cord injured.
• 42.6% of spinal cord injured individuals are considered paraplegic (losses of movement and sensation in the lower body) and 56.4% quadriplegic (losses of movement and sensation in both the arms and legs).
• Approximately 11,000 new injuries occur each year.
• 78% are male and approximately half (47%) are married at the time of injury.
• The average age of spinal cord injured person is 38.
• Spinal cord injuries are most commonly caused by:
       Vehicular accidents  50.4%
       Violence  11.2%
       Falls  23.8%
       Sports-related  9%
       Other  5.6%
• 88.3% of all spinal cord injured individuals are discharged from hospitals to a private home, 5.1% are discharged to nursing homes.

What Do Spinal Cord Injuries Really Cost?

• Length of initial hospitalization following injury in acute care units:  15 days
• Average stay in rehabilitation unit:      40 days
• Average first year expenses for a spinal cord injury (all groups):  $420,055
• First year expenses for paraplegics:      $228,955
• First year expenses for quadriplegics:     $515,605
• Average lifetime costs for paraplegics, age of injury 25:   $799,721
• Average lifetime costs for quadriplegics, age of injury 25:     $1.35 million
• Percentage of SCI individuals unemployed ten years after injury  58.1%

             (Note: current unemployment rate is 5.5% per the Bureau of Labor Statistics)

By developing therapies for those who are already spinal cord injured and preventing new injuries, the United States would save as much as $400 billion on future direct and indirect lifetime costs.

Source:   The University of Alabama National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention