PHYSICAL HEALTH CONDITIONS IN PERSONS WITH SPINAL CORD INJURY ACROSS 21 COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE

Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 2022 · DOI: 10.2340/jrm.v54.2040 · Published: June 6, 2022

Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Public Health

Simple Explanation

More than 500,000 people experience a spinal cord injury (SCI) every year. Because of the impairments of having SCI, many experience co-occurrence of additional health conditions, called comorbidity. This study describes the 3-month prevalence, and associated factors of self-reported physical health conditions secondary to SCI across 21 countries worldwide. The results showed that physical health problems secondary to SCI are extremely common worldwide. Having pain, muscle spasms/spasticity, sexual dysfunction and bowel dysfunction were the most common, all with rates above 70%.

Study Duration

2017–19

Participants

11,058 community-living persons with traumatic or non-traumatic SCI aged >18 years from 21 countries

Evidence Level

Cross-sectional survey

Key Findings

1
Overall, 95.8% of the participants reported having experienced 1 or more health problems secondary to their SCI during the last 3 months.
2
Experiencing pain in day-to-day life was the most prevalent self-reported health condition (prevalence rate 77.3%), followed by muscle spasms/spasticity (73.5%), sexual dysfunction (71.3%) and bowel dysfunction (70.8%).
3
Unmet healthcare needs, being a smoker, being a female, having a complete lesion, and a traumatic injury exhibited significant associations with comorbidity.

Research Summary

The current multi-national, comparative, cross-sectional study aimed to describe the prevalence, severity and correlates of self-reported health conditions among community-living persons with SCI across 21 countries worldwide representing all 6 WHO regions. The results showed high worldwide prevalence rates of health conditions, in which pain, muscle spasms/ spasticity, sexual dysfunction and bowel dysfunction were most prevalent, with rates all above 70%. Unmet healthcare needs, smoking status, sex, age, and SCI duration, severity and aetiology demonstrated statistically significant associations with comorbidity.

Practical Implications

Healthcare Investment

The findings emphasize the critical need for increased investment in appropriate management, medical care, and rehabilitation services tailored to individuals with SCI.

Targeted Interventions

The identification of specific risk factors associated with comorbidity, such as unmet healthcare needs and smoking, highlights potential targets for nationwide interventions.

Improved Healthcare Access

Addressing barriers to healthcare access, including affordability and availability of services, is essential to improve outcomes and reduce morbidity and mortality rates among individuals with SCI.

Study Limitations

1
Self-reported data on health conditions were not verified by medical professionals, which may have introduced reporting bias.
2
Variation in the sampling frame might have introduced selection bias.
3
The nature of the cross-sectional study design used precludes any causal inference on the associations found in this study.

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