The Spinal Cord Injury Model System (SCIMS) Program began in 1970 to improve care and outcomes for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). There are currently 18 SCIMS centers funded.
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What are the objectives of the
National SCIMS Database?
Data from the National SCIMS Database is intended to:
- identify demographics and the use of services by individuals with SCI;
- examine specific rehabilitation, health and life course outcomes of SCI;
- establish expected rehabilitation treatment outcomes for SCI;
- identify and evaluate trends over time associated with SCI; and
- serve as a resource for conducting historical, prospective, and longitudinal SCI-related research.
What is the National SCIMS
Database?
The National Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) Database was established in 1973 as a repository of data collected through the collaborative efforts of federally funded SCI Model System Centers. There are 18 SCI Model System Centers currently contributing data to the Database, with a total of 32 Centers contributing data since the Database’s inception. Through the June of 2022, there were more than 51,000 persons who have sustained traumatic SCI registered in the National SCIMS Database and more than 30,000 persons had follow-up data. This makes it the world’s largest and longest active SCI research database and the world’s most extensive source of available information about the characteristics and life course of individuals with SCI. There are individuals enrolled into the National SCIMS Database who have now been followed for 45 years after injury.