Cognition among Community-Dwelling Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury

This study looks at the cognitive abilities of people living in the community with spinal cord injuries (SCI). It compares them to people without SCI using a standardized cognitive test. The study found that people with SCI performed similarly to those without SCI on tests of general knowledge. However, they scored lower on tests that measure processing speed and executive functions. These cognitive differences were still present even after accounting for differences in fine motor skills. People with tetraplegia (paralysis of all four limbs) had lower scores on processing speed and executive function tests than those with paraplegia (paralysis of the lower body).

• 1
  Individuals with SCI produced lower scores on the NIHTB-CB fluid composite score by an average of 4.5 T-score points (Cohen’s d = 0.50; a medium effect size).
• 2
  Individuals with SCI had the most difficulty on tests of processing speed and executive functions, and some difficulty on a test of episodic memory, although effect sizes were small.
• 3
  Individuals with tetraplegia produced lower scores than individuals with paraplegia on tests of processing speed and executive functioning.