Home aids and personal assistance 10-45 years after spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVE

Assessment of home aids, adaptations and personal assistance received after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI).

SETTING

Clinic for Spinal Cord Injuries, Denmark. Uptake area, 2.5 million inhabitants.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

Cross-sectional follow-up with retrospective data from medical files.

MATERIALS

Individuals with traumatic SCI before 1 January 1991, still in regular follow-up and with sufficient medical record. In all, 279 were included, and 236 answered the questionnaire (193 men and 43 women), with a response rate of 84.6%. Mean age at follow-up was 50.5 years, and mean follow-up time, 24.1 years. One hundred and twenty-six were paraplegic and 110, tetraplegic. Responders and non-responders were comparable.

RESULTS

Most common aids or adaptations reported were commode/shower chair on wheels or a seat (69%), grab bar by the toilet (41%), electrical bed (44%), special mattress (28%), lift/hoist (20%), computers (39%) and kitchen tools or cutlery with special handles (14%). In all, 7.6% of the participants reported no aids. Eighty-two percent answered 'Yes' to the question 'Have the aids, you currently or previously needed, been available to you?' The majority reported that their source of information about aid had been various journals and magazines. Twenty-one percent had personal helpers, with 60 h per week in median (range 2-168). Thirty-three percent received domestic help with 2.5 h per week in median (range 0.5-37). Eight percent had a home nurse. A total of 98.7% were living in their own homes.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first study of a representative SCI population giving information on home aids. Individuals with SCI in Denmark seem to be sufficiently supplied with aids and personal assistance.