International Spinal Cord Injury Core Data Set.
METHODS
Survey of expert opinion, feedback, and development of final consensus.


OBJECTIVE
Present the background, purpose, development process, and results for the International Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Core Data Set.


METHODS
International.


METHODS
A committee of experts was established to select and define data elements to be included in an International SCI Core Data Set. A draft core data set was developed and disseminated to appropriate organisations for comment. All suggested revisions were considered, and a final version of the core data set was disseminated again for approval and adoption.


RESULTS
The core data set consists of 24 variables, including basic demographic characteristics, dates of admission and discharge from initial acute and rehabilitation care, cause of injury, place of discharge, presence of vertebral fractures and associated injuries, occurrence of spinal surgery, and measures of neurological and ventilator status.


CONCLUSIONS
Collection of the core data set should be a basic ingredient of all future studies of SCI to facilitate accurate description of patient populations and comparison of results across published studies from around the world.
DeVivo
M
M
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Biering-Sørensen
F
F
Charlifue
S
S
Noonan
V
V
Post
M
M
Stripling
T
T
Wing
P
P
D003628:Database Management Systems; D016208:Databases, Factual; D015340:Epidemiologic Research Design; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D038622:Internationality; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*