Predicting community reintegration after spinal cord injury from demographic and injury characteristics.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the influence of demographic and injury characteristics on the community reintegration of people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

DESIGN

Prospective cross-sectional and longitudinal examination of individuals with SCI.

SETTING

Follow-up of individuals at 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, and 20 years after SCI who received their initial rehabilitation in a Regional Model Spinal Cord Injury System.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 3,835 individuals who met the inclusion criteria for the National SCI Database were studied cross-sectionally, and a subset of 347 individuals who were also enrolled in a longitudinal study of aging with SCI.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Subscales of the Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique (CHART).

RESULTS

Neurologic classification, age, years postinjury, gender, ethnicity, and education explain 29% of the variance in physical independence, 29% of the variance in mobility, 28% of the variance in occupation. 9% of the variance in social integration, and 18% of the variance in economic self-sufficiency.

CONCLUSIONS

Although these factors are inadequate to explain most of the variation in community reintegration (handicap) after SCI, they might appropriately be used to adjust for case-mix differences when comparing rehabilitation facilities and techniques.