Benefits of early admission to a comprehensive trauma center for patients with spinal cord injury.

Patients with spinal cord injury may be admitted directly to a trauma center with a dedicated rehabilitation unit or transferred there days or weeks later. This study analyzed the relationship between time of transfer to a Level I Trauma Center with a spinal cord injury service and efficacy of subsequent rehabilitation. We examined the records of all patients admitted to the service between September 1981 and August 1983 and followed at least one year. There were 197 patients, 102 quadriplegics and 95 paraplegics, aged 15 to 77 years (average = 29.4 years). Median time from injury to admission was 11 days for quadriplegics and 21 days for paraplegics; this was used to define early and late groups. The early quadriplegic group began rehabilitation 2.94 days postinjury; the late quadriplegic group, 74.87 days (p less than .01). Time in rehabilitation did not differ (128.22 days, early; 122.61, late), but total hospitalization--from injury to discharge--was 131.16 days for the early quadriplegic group and 197.27 for the late quadriplegic group (p less than .01). Average duration of prerehabilitation care for the paraplegic groups was 6.19 days (early) and 58.58 days (late) (p less than .01). Time in rehabilitation was the same for both paraplegic groups, but total hospitalization was shorter for early admissions (82.91 days vs 125.90 days, p less than .01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)