Aging after spinal cord injury: an exploratory study

Objective: To identify the relationship between two aspects of aging (age a t injury onset and years since injury onset) with the post-injury prevalenc e of six classes of secondary conditions among a sample of participants wit h spinal cord injury (SCI). Design: A cross-sectional study to identify the relationship between the tw o aging variables and secondary conditions after spinal cord injury. Setting: A large southeastern rehabilitation hospital, with the collaborati on of two midwestern hospitals. Participants: Three hundred and forty-seven participants, all of whom had t raumatic SCI of an average duration of 18.2 years. Main outcome measures: The Secondary Conditions Questionnaire (SCQ), a 50-i tem self-report screening measure for secondary conditions after SCI, was u sed to measure the postinjury prevalence of six classes of secondary condit ions. Results: There was a significantly greater odds of kidney stones, non-urina ry related infections, and three types of musculoskeletal conditions tie, c urvature of the spine, contractures, and fractures) among participant cohor ts who were 20-29 years post-injury and 30 or more years post-injury. The o dds of heart problems and bowel obstructions were higher with a greater age at injury onset, whereas the odds of seven other conditions decreased amon g older cohorts at injury. Among these seven conditions, the most dramatic findings were for kidney stones, where individuals who were less than 18 at injury had over 30 times the odds of having had the condition since injury than those who were injured at 40 or older. Conclusions: Although the study was cross-sectional in nature, the results point to secondary conditions which may be problematic with increasing year s since injury, as well as those conditions which are more or less likely t o occur among individuals injured at different points in their lives.