Abstract:
Background: Traumatic spinal cord injuries (tSCI) exact an extensive burden on the
injured individual, their family and carers, and society as a whole. In addition to the
physical and psychosocial trauma, the economic burden is thought to be substantial, due to
increased health care costs as well as higher rates of morbidity and premature mortality.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to estimate the current lifetime economic burden of
traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) in Bangladesh from a societal perspective, including
both direct and indirect costs, using an incidence-based approach. Methodology: The study
design was cross-sectional. Total 60 samples were selected conveniently for this study from
Spinal Cord Injury unit, CRP, Savar. Data was collected by using of questionnaire. The
study was conducted by using quantitative descriptive analysis through using SPSS
software 20.0 version. Available resource use and cost information for
complete/incomplete tetraplegia and paraplegia was applied to the estimated annual
incidence of tSCI, by severity, in Bangladesh. Analysis of data: Self-made questionnaire
& SPSS was used for analyzing the data. Results: In this study, the results found that 70%
tSCI patient (hospitalized) strongly agreed wheelchair as an economic burden. Among the
total participants, 75% had costs about 1-5lakh, 15% had costs about 6-10lakh, 5% had
costs about 11-15lakh, 5% had costs about ˃20lakh after the injury. Conclusion: This study
focuses on the economic burden of SCI patients in their own community and found that
the costs after injury were really an economic burden for the SCI hospital patients.
Key words: Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), Economic burden, Community
Description:
This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy, Bangladesh Health Professions Institute, Faculty of Medicine, the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.