title: Subgroups in epidemiological studies on spinal cord injury: Evaluation of international recommendations in the Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test subgroups of a community-based sample of individuals with spinal cord injury, categorized by the application of current recommendations by the International Spinal Cord Society.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Individuals with traumatic and non-traumatic spinal cord injury residing in Switzerland.
  
  
  METHODS
  Recommended subgroups of age, gender, years since injury, severity of injury and aetiology were tested against the following criteria: (i) distribution of participants across categories; (ii) within- and between-group variability with regard to selected outcomes of functioning and quality of life.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data-sets for 1,549 participants (28.5% women; mean age 52 ± 15 years) were available for analyses. There was a number of participants in every subgroup, yet numbers were relatively small in the group with the shortest time since injury (< 1 year; n = 23) and in the oldest age group (≥ 76; n = 94). A high variability in some outcomes was detected between categories. All variables were predictive for most of the endpoints investigated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recommended categorization could well fit the present sample. A minor concern was the low numbers of participants in some subgroups.
authors.affiliation: Swiss Paraplegic Research, Guido A. Zäch Str. 4, CH-6207 Nottwil, Switzerland. E-mail: timo.hinrichs@paraplegie.ch.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hinrichs
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Prodinger
authors.forename: Martin W G
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Brinkhof
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gemperli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012107:Research Design; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000145:classification*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland