April 21, 2009

Albuquerque Journal

Paralysis More Widespread Than Thought
By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Journal Staff Writer
   
    Nearly 1.3 million Americans live with paralyzing spinal cord injuries — more than three times the highest previous estimates, University of New Mexico researchers found in a study funded by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
    The study also estimates nearly 5.6 million Americans, or 1.9 percent of the U.S. population, report some form of paralysis in their arms or legs — a number that also exceeds previous estimates.
    "It shocked us," said Joseph Canose, a vice president at the Reeve Foundation. The number of Americans affected by paralysis is about 40 percent higher than previous estimates of 4 million, he said. "We knew the number was going to be bigger, but we didn't know it was going to be that big."
    Anthony Cahill, UNM's director of disability and health policy and lead author of the study, said the comprehensive nature of the study, which surveyed 33,000 households nationally, helps explain the higher number of people with paralysis.
    The survey probably represents the largest group ever sampled to assess the number of people with a disability, Cahill said. "We really didn't know how many people were paralyzed in this country," he said.
    The study also used a broad
    definition of paralysis that includes anyone with a condition of the central nervous system that results in difficulty moving their arms and legs, Cahill said. It lists 18 conditions that can result in paralysis, the most common being stroke, spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis.
    Previous estimates based on clinical data, such as hospital discharge records, underestimated the number of people with paralysis and spinal cord injury because rehabilitation hospitals typically serve only the most severe cases, he said.
    "Many people with spinal cord injury never go to a rehab hospital," Cahill said. Hospital discharge figures also miss people who were first paralyzed years or decades ago, he said.
    UNM Center for Development and Disability researchers designed the survey and analyzed the results. The Reeve Foundation pays UNM about $300,000 a year for the survey and other work, Cahill said.
    The foundation was created by actor Christopher Reeve, who broke his neck in a 1995 horse-riding accident and was paralyzed from the neck down. He died in 2004.
    Paralysis has a high prevalence among American Indians and blacks, the study found, but not among Hispanics. An estimated 176,000 American Indians and 827,000 blacks report some form of paralysis.
    The study offered no explanation for the high rate among those groups. But Cahill said crippling accidents might be more common among lower-income people who perform physical high-risk jobs.
    He also cited the rural nature of many tribal areas, which requires driving greater distances on unimproved roads, resulting in higher rates of motor vehicle accidents.
    The study also indicates that military service is a major cause of paralysis. It estimates that 67,000 Americans became paralyzed as a result of an accident or an injury that occurred during military service.