Impact of bladder, bowel and sexual dysfunction on health status of people with thoracolumbar spinal cord injuries living in the community

Following a spinal cord injury (SCI), individuals commonly experience disruption of autonomic function, which can negatively affect their quality of life. The study aimed to describe the prevalence of bladder/bowel incontinence and sexual dysfunction in community-dwelling individuals with a thoracolumbar SCI and examine the impact on general physical and mental health status. Results highlight the high prevalence of self-reported bowel/bladder incontinence and sexual dysfunction in the traumatic thoracolumbar SCI population and support the need for standardized assessments.

• 1
  58.8% of participants reported bladder incontinence, 54.0% bowel incontinence, 60.8% sexual dysfunction, and 29.4% had all three.
• 2
  Age at injury, bowel incontinence, sexual dysfunction, presence of pain, motor score at follow-up, and the number of SHCs were significant predictors of health status.
• 3
  The number of SHCs was more predictive than all other demographic and injury variables for health status.