Risk of Unintentional Injuries in the First Year After SCI

Spinal cord injury (SCI) represents a type of unintentional injury that often is preceded by high risk behaviors and results in lifelong consequences, yet there has been little study of subsequent unintentional injuries after SCI onset. We have collected data on unintentional injuries among people living in the community with chronic SCI as part of larger studies on secondary health conditions and/or aging, finding that 19-23% reported at least 1 unintentional injury in the 12 months prior to data collection.1-4 The pattern of risk factors for fall related and non-fall related injuries differs in important respects, so we developed separate tools (https://chp.musc.edu/research/help/tools) to identify individualized risk of each type of injury. In contrast with these studies among those with chronic SCI, there is an absence of research on unintentional injury within the first year after SCI onset, even though the first year is perhaps the most important to establishing healthy self-management. The purpose of this module is to identify risk factors for unintentional injuries in the first year after SCI onset and identify the relationship of unintentional injuries with other outcomes at one year. This will be accomplished by collecting additional data on unintentional injuries and related covariates at the first year anniversary, in conjunction with the Form II data collection. We will then use Form I data as predictors of unintentional injuries that occur after discharge through the first anniversary follow-up and to identify relationships between unintentional injuries and other outcomes measured concurrently during the Form II assessment. Completion of this module will lead to increase knowledge of unintentional injuries, their risk factors and relationships of outcomes, and this will enable the development of a tool to for individualized prediction of risk.