Abstract

While traumatic spinal cord injuries (TSCIs) are less prevalent than other traumatic injuries, they can have a significant impact on the spinal cord’s functioning outside of the injury site. Preventing spinal cord injury using epidemiological research is an urgent but practicable technique for examining incidence, damage mechanisms, and patient characteristics. This allows for the creation of preventative methods. This review aimed to assess the pattern of TSCIs in Saudi Arabia in recently published studies. A comprehensive literature search including PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and Web of Science was conducted to include articles published from 2012 to 2023 that assessed TSCIs in Saudi Arabia. After the application of the inclusion criteria, 12 studies were included in the review. Data about authors, study design, sample size, objective, results, and conclusion were extracted. There was a male predominance with a male-to-female ratio of 4:6:1. The mean age was 28 to 36 years. The most common cause of injury was road traffic accidents, and the most common site of spinal injury was the cervical cord. Of patients, 52% had tetraplegia in one study, 37% had complete paraplegia in another study, and 25% had fixed neurologic deficit as quadriplegia or paraplegia in a third study. The type of management was mainly conservative. There is a need for TSCI registry data on the specific etiology, as well as complete demographic and clinical information about affected people. These would help with planning primary preventative strategies.

Key words: Traumatic spinal injuries, Saudi Arabia, systematic review, road traffic accidents, spinal cord injury