Worklife after traumatic spinal cord injury.
OBJECTIVE
To develop predictive models to estimate worklife expectancy after spinal cord injury (SCI).


METHODS
Inception cohort study.


METHODS
Model SCI Care Systems throughout the United States.


METHODS
20,143 persons enrolled in the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center database since 1973.


METHODS
Not applicable.


METHODS
Postinjury employment rates and worklife expectancy.


RESULTS
Using logistic regression, we found a greater likelihood of being employed in any given year to be significantly associated with younger age, white race, higher education level, being married, having a nonviolent cause of injury, paraplegia, ASIA D injury, longer time postinjury, being employed at injury and during the previous postinjury year, higher general population employment rate, lower level of Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, and calendar years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.


CONCLUSIONS
The likelihood of postinjury employment varies substantially among persons with SCI. Given favorable patient characteristics, worklife should be considerably higher than previous estimates.
Pflaum
Christopher
C
Spectrum Economics, Inc, Overland Park, Kansas, USA.
McCollister
George
G
Strauss
David J
DJ
Shavelle
Robert M
RM
DeVivo
Michael J
MJ
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States