Table 3.
Association between patient characteristics and fall height.
| Ground-level falls (n = 579) | Low falls (< 1 m) (n = 241) | High falls (≧1 m) (n = 333) | P-value for trend | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-injury patient demographics | ||||
| Mean age at injury (years) | 77.5 | 76.5 | 73.9 | < 0.001* |
| Sex: men, n (%) | 384 (66.3) | 147 (61.0) | 251 (75.4) | 0.01* |
| Mean body mass index (kg/m2) | 22.0 | 21.9 | 22.4 | 0.17 |
| Residence status: home, n (%) | 534 (93.9) | 235 (97.9) | 324 (99.4) | < 0.001* |
| Walking capacity: walking w/ or w/o a cane, n (%) | 522 (90.9) | 230 (97.1) | 332 (100.0) | < 0.001* |
| Mean Charlson comorbidity index | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.6 | < 0.001* |
| Mean number of medications | 4.7 | 4.1 | 3 | < 0.001* |
| Mean modified 5-item frailty index | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.7 | < 0.001* |
| Presence of cervical ligamentous ossification | ||||
| OPLL, n (%) | 165 (28.5) | 43 (17.8) | 62 (18.7) | < 0.001* |
| OLF, n (%) | 11 (1.9) | 5 (2.1) | 5 (1.5) | 0.69 |
| DISH, n (%) | 104 (18.0) | 26 (10.8) | 26 (7.8) | < 0.001* |
| Injury status | ||||
| Cervical vertebral fracture, n (%) | 238 (41.1) | 139 (57.7) | 218 (65.5) | < 0.001* |
| Cervical dislocation, n (%) | 50 (8.6) | 41 (17.0) | 71 (21.3) | < 0.001* |
| Spinal cord injury, n (%) | 453 (78.2) | 158 (65.6) | 224 (67.3) | < 0.001* |
| w/ bony injury, n (%) | 127 (21.9) | 68 (28.2) | 126 (37.8) | < 0.001* |
| w/o bony injury, n (%) | 326 (56.3) | 90 (37.3) | 98 (29.4) | < 0.001* |
| ASIA impairment scale | ||||
| A, n (%) | 37 (6.4) | 24 (10.0) | 35 (10.6) | 0.12 |
| B, n (%) | 28 (4.9) | 15 (6.2) | 14 (4.3) | |
| C, n (%) | 145 (25.2) | 48 (19.9) | 73 (22.2) | |
| D, n (%) | 240 (41.7) | 71 (29.5) | 98 (29.8) | |
| Associated injuries, n (%) | 80 (13.8) | 64 (26.6) | 125 (37.5) | < 0.001* |
| Treatment status | ||||
| Surgery implementation, n (%) | 334 (57.7) | 137 (56.9) | 205 (61.6) | 0.27 |
Records with unknown or missing values were excluded from the analysis.
OPLL Ossificationof the posterior longitudinal ligament, OLF Ossification of the ligamentum flavum, DISH Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, ASIA American Spinal Injury Association.
*Statistically significant trend between the levels of fall height in the Cochran–Armitage test or Jonckheere–Terpstra test.