SCI Publications

Objective: To examine the modifying effect of body mass index (BMI) on the association between rehabilitation length of stay (LOS), severity of injury, and motor FIM (mFIM) improvement in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI). Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Seventeen SCI Model Systems (SCIMS) centers in the United States. Participants: A ...

Objective: To determine the differences in neurologic recovery in persons with initial cervical American Spinal Cord Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grades A and B over time. Design: Retrospective analysis of data from people with traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) enrolled in the National Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) ...

Objective: To investigate whether initial emergency department physiological measures and metrics of trauma severity predict functional outcomes and neurologic recovery in traumatic spinal cord injury. Design: Retrospective analysis of a clinical database. Setting: Merged multicenter data from the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) database and National Trauma Data Bank from 6 ...

Objective: To identify trends in causes of death after spinal cord injury (SCI) that could enhance understanding of why life expectancy after SCI has not improved in the last 3 decades. Design: Cohort study. Setting: Twenty-nine SCI Model Systems and 3 Shriners Hospitals. Participants: Individuals with traumatic SCI (N=49,266) enrolled in the SCI ...

Objective: To estimate the population profile of people living with traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) to help evaluate health care needs of this aging population. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: SCI Model Systems (SCIMS) centers in the United States. Participants: Individuals (N=20,437) who: (1) incurred a TSCI between 1972 and 2019, (2) were initially ...

Objective: To characterize the use of complementary and integrative health care (CIH) by people with spinal cord injury. Design: Cross-sectional self-report study. Setting: Participants were recruited from 5 Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) centers across the United States. Interventions: Not applicable. Participants: A total of 411 persons enrolled in the SCIMS completing their ...

Objective: To investigate the relationship between blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and neurologic recovery after traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) using standardized outcome measures from the International Standards for the Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) examination. Method: This is a retrospective review of merged, prospectively collected, multicenter data from the ...

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between early trauma indicators and neurologic recovery after traumatic SCI using standardized outcome measures from the ISNCSCI examination and standardized functional outcome measures for rehabilitation populations. Methods: This is a retrospective review of merged, prospectively collected, multicenter data from the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) ...

Study design: Retrospective cohort study. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate safety and efficacy of higher tidal volumes (HVt) compared to moderate Vt (MVt) in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) admitted to acute inpatient rehabilitation (AIR) facility on mechanical ventilation via tracheostomy. Setting: AIR facility in the ...

Study design: Cross-sectional survey. Objectives: The objective of the study was to identify the treatments that people with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) used for their non-neuropathic pains (nonNeuPs) and how they subjectively rated the helpfulness of those treatments. Setting: Six centers from the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems. Methods: Three hundred ninety ...

Objective: To examine associations of patient characteristics and treatment quantity delivered during inpatient spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation with outcomes at 5 years post-injury and compare them to the associations found at 1 year post-injury. Design: Observational study using Practice-Based Evidence research methodology in which clinicians documented treatment details. ...

Background: Linking records from the National Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) database to the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) provides a unique opportunity to study early variables in predicting long-term outcomes after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). The public use data sets of SCIMS and NTDB are stripped of ...

Objectives: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Transfer Assessment Instrument Questionnaire (TAI-Q), a self-assessment measure to evaluate transfer quality compared with clinician-reported measures. Design: Participants self-assessed transfers from their wheelchair to a mat table using the TAI-Q. For session 1, participants self-assessed their transfer both before and after reviewing a ...

Objective: The aims of this study were to replicate findings that a home exercise program intervention improved shoulder pain and function and to assess changes in supraspinatus tendon pathology associated with the home exercise program in persons with chronic spinal cord injury. Design: The study is a single-blind randomized controlled trial. ...

Study design: Randomized double blind, placebo-controlled trial. Objectives: To examine the effect of early intravenous zoledronic acid (ZA) on bone markers and areal bone mineral density (aBMD) in persons with acute ASIA Impairment Scale (AIS) A traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Two inpatient rehabilitation units. Methods: Thirteen men, ...

Context/Objective: The sacral examination components of the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI), namely deep anal pressure (DAP) and voluntary anal sphincter contraction (VAC), are often difficult to perform. We evaluated whether pressure sensation at the S3 dermatome (S3P), and voluntary hip adductor or toe ...

Objective: To determine if the motor response on the stimulated manual muscle test (SMMT) in muscles with a grade 0 motor score on the manual muscle test (MMT) can differentiate lower motor neuron (LMN) from upper motor neuron (UMN) injury based on the presence of spontaneous activity (SA) with ...

Objective: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spinal Cord Injury Spasticity Evaluation Tool (SCI-SET) and Patient-Reported Impact of Spasticity Measure (PRISM) using Rasch analysis to optimize their validity and efficiency. Design: Rasch analysis of the SCI-SET and PRISM represents a secondary analysis of data collected as part of a collaborative ...

Purpose: Investigate the type and frequency of wheelchair repairs and resulting adverse consequences in a Veteran population. Design: Convenience cross-sectional sample survey. Setting: Data were collected at the 2017 National Veterans Wheelchair Games. Participants: Veterans who use a wheelchair ≥ 40 h/wk (n = 60). Intervention: Not applicable. Main outcome measures: Repairs and associated adverse ...

Objective: To determine if the "sacral sparing" definition for completeness of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a more stable definition than the previously used Frankel Classification. Design: Retrospective analysis of persons enrolled in the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) database from 2011-2018. Setting: SCIMS centers. Participants: Individuals ...