title: Psychosocial outcomes of children and adolescents with early-onset spinal cord injury and those with spina bifida.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe psychosocial outcomes of children and adolescents with early-onset spinal cord injury (SCI) and spina bifida (SB) and identify differences between them.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-three participants had acquired SCI before age 3 years (mean age 10.6 ± 3.8 yrs), and 54 had SB (mean age 11.7 ± 4.1 yrs). The participants completed standardized assessments of participation, quality of life (QOL), anxiety, and depression. Independent-sample t tests and Mann-Whitney tests were used to assess group differences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants with SCI reported higher school QOL (P = .016) and lower anxiety with social concerns/concentration (P = .037) than did participants with SB. The subgroup of participants with SCI with paraplegia reported higher school (P = .014) and overall (P = .034) QOL, and they participated in more activities (P = .015) than participants with SB.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children and adolescents with SCI with paraplegia have greater school and overall QOL and participate in more activities than children and adolescents with SB. Children and adolescents with SB would benefit from increased support at school and in social participation.
authors.affiliation: Shriners Hospitals for Children (Ms Flanagan, Drs Kelly and Vogel), Chicago, Illinois; University of Illinois (Dr Kelly), Chicago, Illinois; Rush Medical College (Dr Vogel), Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Flanagan
authors.forename: Erin H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Lawrence C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Vogel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D016135:Spinal Dysraphism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D013997:Time Factors