Aging with spinal cord injury: changes in selected health indices and life satisfaction.

OBJECTIVES

To document the impact of age, age at injury, years postinjury, and injury severity on changes over time in selected physical and psychosocial outcomes of people aging with spinal cord injury (SCI), and to identify the best predictors of these outcomes.

DESIGN

Retrospective cross-sectional and longitudinal examination of people with SCI.

SETTING

Follow-up of people who received initial rehabilitation in a regional Model Spinal Cord Injury System.

PARTICIPANTS

People who meet the inclusion criteria for the National Spinal Cord Injury Database were studied at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years postinjury.

INTERVENTIONS

Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Number of pressure ulcers, number of times rehospitalized, number of days rehospitalized, perceived health status, satisfaction with life, and pain during the most recent follow-up year.

RESULTS

The number of days rehospitalized and frequency of rehospitalizations decreased and the number of pressure ulcers increased as time passed. For the variables of pressure ulcers, poor perceived health, the perception of pain and lower life satisfaction, the best predictor of each outcome was the previous existence or poor rating of that same outcome.

CONCLUSIONS

Common complications of SCI often herald the recurrence of those same complications at a later point in time, highlighting the importance of early intervention to prevent future health and psychosocial difficulties.