Background: Many studies have investigated spinal cord injury incidence rates. Few, however, have adjusted for the underascertainment. The current study used the capture-recapture method to estimate the ascertainment-corrected spinal cord injury incidence rate in Mississippi.
Methods: Two sources were used for case ascertainment: Mississippi's spinal cord injury registry and hospital reports. The two-sample capture-recapture method was used to adjust for undercount.
Results: Two hundred one spinal cord injuries were reported to or found by the Mississippi State Department of Health in 1993, with a crude incidence rate of 7.8 per 100,000 population per year among hospital admissions and prehospital fatalities. Using the two-sample capture-recapture method, it is estimated that the incidence rate would be 9.3 per 100,000 population per year.
Conclusion: Capture-recapture estimates suggest that Mississippi's spinal cord injury incidence rate is more than twice the national average.