Comparison of spinal cord injuries in females and in males, 1979-1981 Basle.

The statistics regarding age, marital status, nationality, paraplegic: tetraplegic ratio and causes of accident of the 92 female and 238 male patients in our Centre in the years 1979-1981 show, in comparison to our own previous studies and those of other countries, the worldwide highest female-male rate of 1:2.59. This is usually due to the higher occurrence of traffic accidents for women. The fact that in the age group below 30 years more women than men suffer from spinal cord injuries implies adapting rehabilitation and management to the specific needs of women.