Paediatric spinal cord injury in Canada: Using administrative claims data to examine long-term health outcomes and healthcare utilization

A spinal cord injury (SCI) is defined as damage to the spinal cord that results from traumatic (e.g. motor vehicle accidents or falls) or non-traumatic (e.g. spina bifida or tumour diagnosis) causes. Children with SCI often require extensive medical follow-up and rehabilitation, and are at increased risk of adverse health effects (such as bladder issues, respiratory and cardiovascular disorders, and death) compared to children without SCI. Despite presumed increases in the number of Canadian children living with SCI over time, little is actually known about paediatric SCI in Canada. Using electronic health data from British Columbia and Ontario and health analytics, my proposed research aims to address existing SCI knowledge gaps by 1) developing national case definitions for traumatic and non-traumatic paediatric SCI, 2) estimating the number of Canadian children living with SCI, and 3) increasing understanding of long-term health outcomes and healthcare utilization among children with SCI. Findings from this research will, for the first time, describe paediatric SCI in Canada, identify paediatric populations most at risk of SCI, and identify opportunities to improve paediatric SCI care in British Columbia and across Canada.