Statewide investigation of medically attended adverse health conditions of persons with spinal cord injury.
OBJECTIVE
To report over a 10-year period the statewide prevalence and incidence of medically attended adverse health conditions in people with new traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI).


METHODS
Retrospective cohort study.


METHODS
(a) Identified all new TSCI cases discharged alive from statewide acute care hospitals, 1996 to 2000, using ICD-9-CM methodology. (b) Followed cases from 1996 to 2005 to quantify medically attended health conditions documented during emergency department visits, acute care hospitalizations, and outpatient hospital visits. (c) Used the life table method to calculate the prevalence and incidence of health conditions. (d) Examined Cox proportional hazard ratio of mortality by gender controlling for age and TSCI severity.


RESULTS
Nine hundred eighty-eight residents (257 women, 731 men) with TSCI were alive 90 days after discharge from acute care hospitalization from 1996 to 2000. Nine hundred twenty-three (251 female, 672 male) (93.4%) residents had an observed medically attended adverse health condition in the 10-year followup period. The most prevalent classes of diseases and disorders were (a) muscle and connective tissue, (b) renal and urinary, (c) digestive, (d) circulatory, (e) respiratory, (f) endocrine/nutritional/metabolic, and (g) infectious. Incidence of new injury was 29.0% for males and 26.9% for females. During the follow-up period, 49 women (19%) and 104 men (14%) died.


CONCLUSIONS
People with TSCI experience diverse adverse health conditions in the 10 years after initial injury. An interdisciplinary health care provider team approach to allocating resources and implementing countermeasures to prevent or limit occurrence of these conditions is vital to these patient's continuum of care.
Pickelsimer
Elisabeth
E
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425, USA. pickelse@musc.edu
Shiroma
Eric J
EJ
Wilson
Dulaney A
DA
D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D055815:Young Adult