title: Electrocardiographic findings in patients with chronic spinal cord injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To demonstrate the prevalence and prognostic value of electrocardiographic abnormalities in patients with chronic spinal cord injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  All electrocardiographs obtained in the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Medical Center since 1987 have been digitally recorded and stored in a computerized database. For this study, only the first electrocardiograph was considered for analysis. The subjects were divided according to age and level of spinal cord injury. The Social Security Death Index was used to ascertain vital status as of December 1999.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Annual mortality was similar in those with chronic spinal cord injury and the able-bodied. However, individuals with a higher level of injury had a significantly higher death rate than those with a lower level of injury. The prognostic characteristics of electrocardiographic abnormalities were similar in both the able-bodied and those with spinal cord injury.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In general, electrocardiographic abnormalities had the same prevalence in the spinal cord injury subjects as in the able-bodied ones. The prognostic value of electrocardiographic abnormalities in subjects with spinal cord injury is similar to that observed in able-bodied subjects.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, California 94304, USA.
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prakash
authors.forename: Vinod
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Raxwal
authors.forename: Victor F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Froelicher
authors.forename: Damayanthi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kalisetti
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: O'Mara
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marcus
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kiratli
authors.forename: Inder
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Perkash
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016019:Survival Analysis