Serum albumin as a predictor of neurological recovery after spinal cord injury: A replication study

Model System:

SCI

Reference Type:

Journal article

Accession No.:

J87137

Journal:

Spinal Cord (formerly Paraplegia)

Year, Volume, Issue, Page(s):

2021 , 59, 3, 282-290

Publication Website:

Abstract:

Study investigated whether serum albumin is significantly associated with long-term neurological outcome in a contemporary cohort of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), to confirm previous research findings. A secondary analysis of neurological outcomes and serum albumin concentrations was performed on data from the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation (SCIRehab) study, which enrolled individuals with traumatic SCI at 6 rehabilitation centers across the United States. Data was accessed from the Archive of Data on Disability to Enable Policy and research (ADDEP). The primary analysis applied unbiased recursive partitioning to examine the relationship between serum albumin, injury severity, and long-term outcomes. Serum albumin concentration was significantly associated with lower extremity motor scores (LEMS) and American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grade at admission to rehabilitation. Serum albumin concentrations alone were also significantly associated with change of LEMS and marked recovery (improvement of at least 2 AIS grades and/or recovery to walking) at 1-year post injury. However, after adjusting for admission to rehabilitation LEMS and AIS grade, serum albumin was not significant. Results partially confirm observations that serum albumin concentrations are associated with neurological outcome after SCI. As a crude prognostic biomarker, serum albumin concentration could be useful in cases where injury severity cannot be accurately assessed.

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