Participation and Life Satisfaction in Aged People with Spinal Cord Injury: Does Age at Onset Make a Difference?

This study investigated participation and life satisfaction in elderly individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), examining whether the age at which the injury occurred affects these outcomes. The study compared individuals who sustained SCI before the age of 50 with those who were injured at 50 or older. The research found that individuals who experienced SCI at a younger age (before 50) reported higher levels of participation in various activities and greater life satisfaction compared to those who sustained SCI later in life. However, the study did not find evidence suggesting that aging with SCI leads to a decline in participation or life satisfaction. These findings suggest that early onset SCI may be associated with better long-term adjustment and quality of life, possibly due to factors such as greater adaptation time or more intensive rehabilitation efforts received at a younger age. The results challenge the notion of 'accelerated aging' leading to worse outcomes in those with early-onset SCI.

• 1
  Participants injured before 50 years of age reported higher participation and life satisfaction scores than participants injured at older ages, indicating a potential benefit of early-onset SCI on long-term outcomes.
• 2
  Lower current age, higher education, and having paraplegia were significant independent determinants of increased participation, explaining 25.7% of the variance in participation scores.
• 3
  Lower age at onset and higher education were significant independent determinants of higher life satisfaction, although the explained variance was relatively low at 15.3%.