Some researchers at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have an article in the American Journal of Public Health about how prevalent paralysis is in the US (5.4 million people). Multiple sclerosis accounts for 18.6% of the cases.
Increasing awareness of the limitations faced by persons with paralysis might lead to more attention to improvements in the lives of those who have lost important physical functioning. Let's hope.
From PubMed, August 24, 2016:
Am J Public Health. 2016 Aug 23:e1-e3.
Prevalence and Causes of Paralysis-United States, 2013.
Armour BS1, Courtney-Long EA1, Fox MH1, Fredine H1, Cahill A1.
Author information
1Brian S. Armour, Elizabeth A. Courtney-Long, and Michael H. Fox are with the Division of Human Development and Disability, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
Heidi Fredine and Anthony Cahill are with the Center for Development and Disability, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
OBJECTIVES:
To estimate the prevalence and causes of functional paralysis in the United States.
METHODS:
We used the 2013 US Paralysis Prevalence & Health Disparities Survey to estimate the prevalence of paralysis, its causes, associated sociodemographic characteristics, and health effects among this population.
RESULTS:
Nearly 5.4 million persons live with paralysis. Most persons with paralysis were younger than 65 years (72.1%), female (51.7%), White (71.4%), high school graduates (64.8%), married or living with a partner (47.4%), and unable to work (41.8%). Stroke is the leading cause of paralysis, affecting 33.7% of the population with paralysis, followed by spinal cord injury (27.3%), multiple sclerosis (18.6%), and cerebral palsy (8.3%).
CONCLUSIONS:
According to the functional definition, persons living with paralysis represent a large segment of the US population, and two-thirds of them are between ages 18 and 64 years.
Targeted health promotion that uses inclusion strategies to account for functional limitations related to paralysis can be undertaken in partnership with state and local health departments.
The abstract can be seen
here.