A follow-up study of paraplegics and tetraplegics discharged from hospital.

A study was conducted to investigate to what extent 76 paraplegics and tetraplegics were able to cope with their environment after discharge from hospital. The results showed that automobile accidents were responsible for most cases of paraplegia and tetraplegia; most patients died within one year of discharge from hospital; there was a significant differential in the survival rate between the upper and lower class patients in favour of the former; the younger the patient the longer was his chances of survival; the higher the lesion the greater were the chances of wife desertion among subjects and the lesser was the chance of survival; and finally none of the subjects except one was employed after discharge from hospital.