Quality of Life after Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury in Rwanda, the Impact of Personal and Contextual Factors: A Follow-Up Exploratory Study.

BACKGROUND

Traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) affects quality of life (QoL) depending on the severity and access to rehabilitation. A good QoL is of paramount importance for TSCI survivors all over the world.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the QoL of TSCI survivors after one year.

METHODS

Adults were included who by the time of injury were 18 years or above and registered in a previous epidemiological study. "The International Spinal Cord Injury Quality of Life" standard data set was used to collect data and assess overall QoL (range 0-30) and three domains: satisfaction with life as a whole, physical- and psychological health (range 0-10). A telephone interview was conducted with 58 participants.

RESULTS

The overall mean score of QoL was 13.12 (SD 7.17), satisfaction with life as a whole 3.91 (SD 2.73), psychological health 5.36 (SD 2.95), and physical health 3.84 (SD 2.59). Marital status significantly influenced overall QoL (P = 0.031) and its two domains; satisfaction with life as a whole (P = 0.037) and satisfaction with physical health (P = 0.022). Linear regression analysis showed that being married or widowed predicted poor QoL.

CONCLUSION

Low scores of overall QoL and its domains implying poor QoL and marital status may play a role, hence it is important to take it into consideration when treating patient with TSCI.