Coins DIG

A new study shows 40 percent more Americans live with paralysis and five times more people are living with a spinal-cord injury.

The survey released Tuesday, involving over 33,000 households, showed that 1.275 million people have had a spinal cord injury and over 5.6 million Americans live with some form of paralysis. The highest previous estimates were 250,000 and roughly four million, respectively.

The study was initiated by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and conducted by the University of New Mexico's Center for Development and Disability. More than 30 experts from 14 leading universities and medical centers and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set the parameters for the survey. The development of the survey, acquisition and analysis of the data took over three years.

"Paralysis is not rare," said Dr. Edwin Trevathan, disabilities chief at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which helped design the study. The data shows that one in 50 Americans is living with some form of paralysis, whether caused by disease, spinal cord injury or neurological damage," said Peter T. Wilderotter, President and CEO of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

He said: "these data demand that we recommit ... to help this population."

The study paints a sobering picture of the cycle of paralysis and poverty. Sixty percent of people with paralysis have annual household incomes of less than $25,000. Worse, about a quarter report household incomes below $10,000, compared with 7 percent of the U.S. population, the study found.

Source: news.xinhuanet.com