Paralysis Facts

According to a study¹ initiated by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, there are nearly 1 in 50 people living with paralysis -- approximately 6 million people. That's the same number of people as the combined populations of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. And that number is nearly 33% higher than previous estimates showed.

It means that we all know someone -- a brother, sister, friend, neighbor, or colleague -- living with paralysis.

THE PREVALENCE AND DEMOGRAPHICS OF PARALYSIS AND SPINAL CORD INJURY

Prevalence

Approximately 1.9% of the U.S. population, or some 5,596,000 people, reported some form of paralysis based on the functional definition used in the survey.

Approximately 0.4% of the U.S. population or some 1,275,000 people reported being paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury. ²

Causes of Paralysis and Spinal Cord Injury

The leading cause of paralysis was stroke (29%), followed by spinal cord injury (23%) and multiple sclerosis (17%).

Various types of accidents accounted for the great majority of spinal cord injuries.

36% of those who reported being paralyzed said they had “a lot of difficulty” in moving; 29% said “some difficulty”; 17% said “a little difficulty”; and 16% said they were “completely unable to move.”

35% of those who reported being paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury said they had “a lot of difficulty” in moving; 29% percent said they had “some difficulty”; 20% said they had “a little difficulty”; and 13% were “completely unable” to move.

Average Age

The average age of those who reported being paralyzed was 52.

The average age of those who reported being paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury was 48.

Average Length of Time Since Paralysis and Spinal Cord Injury

The average length of time since the paralysis occurred was 14 years.

The average length of time since the spinal cord injury occurred was 15.6 years.

Gender

54% of those who reported being paralyzed were males, while 46% were females.

61% of those who reported being paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury were males, while 39% were females. Males were nearly twice as likely (1.77) to incur a spinal cord injury as females.

Ethnicity and Hispanic Identity

Just over three-quarters of those who reported being paralyzed were White (77.8%); 17.2% were African American; 12.1% were Hispanic; 3.7% were Native American/Alaskan Native; 0.1% were two or more races; and 0.8% were other.

Paralysis is disproportionately distributed among minority communities, including African Americans and Native Americans, when compared to ethnicity data from the United States Census. Among Hispanics³, however, those who reported being paralyzed represented approximately the same percentage as those who reported being Hispanic in the United States Census.

Approximately three-quarters of those who reported being paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury are White; 15.6% are Black/African American; and 7.3% are Native American/Alaskan.

Data suggest that spinal cord injury is disproportionately distributed among minority communities, including African Americans and Native Americans, when compared to ethnicity data from the United States Census.

12.7% of those who reported being paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury identified themselves as Hispanic,³ approximately the same percentage as those who reported being Hispanic in the United States Census.

1 The Reeve Foundation's One Degree of Separation: Paralysis and Spinal Cord Injury in the Untied States

2 Margin of error: ± 8.66%

3 The survey on which these results are based follows the format used for acquiring self-reported Hispanic identity by the United States Census, which separates racial identity from Hispanic identity, thus allowing respondents to identity themselves as Hispanic as well as with a separate racial identity.

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