The epidemiology of traumatic spinal cord injury has been not as well examined in Korea. This study examined the influence of selected demographic and epidemiologic variables on 112 patients with traumatic spinal cord injury at the time of injury during a 6-year period. These variables included age, preinjury occupation, topographic level, completeness of spinal cord injury, and time, week and season, and mechanisms of the injury. The leading cause of traumatic spinal cord was falls (42.0%), followed by motor vehicle accidents (39.3%). Paraplegia accounted for 70.5% of the traumatic spinal cord injuries, and quadriplegia accounted for the remaining 29.5%. Traumatic spinal cord injury occurred most commonly in June, summer, the time of midday to 6 P.M. and on Saturday.
