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Study investigated the molecular signaling pathways and mechanisms by which autoimmunity is induced after spinal cord injury (SCI), with the goal of identifying potential targets in therapies designed to reduce tissue damage and inflammation in the chronic phase of SCI. To that end, an exploratory microarray analysis of peripheral ...

Article describes the development and evaluation of the Spinal Cord Injury-Functional Index (SCI-FI), a new measurement system of physical functioning for people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Specifically, the goals of the study were to develop a comprehensive set of items that assess multiple aspects of physical functioning relevant ...

Article describes the calibration of the Spinal Cord Injury-Functional Index (SCI-FI) and reports on the initial psychometric evaluation of the SCI-FI scales in each content domain. SCI-FI instrument data were obtained from 855 participants with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) recruited from 6 SCI Model Systems and stratified by ...

Article provides an overview of the journal issue focusing on research outcomes from the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) program. The program’s goals are to demonstrate a comprehensive system of care for people with spinal cord injury (SCI) and conduct research to improve the health and quality of ...

Study examined the impact of Medicare’s inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) prospective payment system (PPS) on inpatient rehabilitation outcomes for patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). A sample of 296 Medicare and 3,110 non-Medicare patients was selected from the National SCI Statistical Center Database from 1996 to 2006. The ...

Study examined the influence of body mass index (BMI) on physical and psychosocial health and functioning among people with spinal cord injury (SCI). A total of 1,381 people (1,107 men and 274 women), who received follow-up in 2006 to 2009, were recruited from 16 SCI Model Systems throughout the United ...

Study assessed the influence of community-level socioeconomic status (SES) and urban composition on well-being after spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation. Data were obtained from 1,454 patients with traumatic SCI from two centers participating centers in the SCI Model Systems program. Dichotomous measures of perceived health (ill versus good health), ...

Study evaluated potential pain cutoff scores reflecting mild, moderate, and severe pain in the spinal cord injury (SCI) population and determined the relationship between the derived cutoff scores and both psychosocial and functional outcome measures. The data analyzed were extracted from the SCI Model Systems database for 6,096 adults ...

Study developed new estimates of the costs of care following spinal cord injury in the United States (US). Information from the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center database was supplemented where necessary with estimates from a previous comprehensive study of lifetime costs updated for inflation to 2009 US dollars. ...

Study describes changes in upper- (UEMS) and lower-extremity (LEMS) motor scores, the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grade, and motor level in people with traumatic tetraplegia from the National Spinal Cord Injury Database. Data were extracted for 1,436 subjects with tetraplegia with at least 2 examinations, the ...

Study examined the course of probable major depression among a group of 1, 035 participants with spinal cord injury (SCI) from 16 SCI Model System centers who were assessed at 1 and 5 years after injury. Probable major depression, defined as Physician Health Questionnaire-9 score of 10 or higher, ...

Study examined perceived quality of life (QOL) at 1 year postinjury in people with tetraplegia who required mechanical ventilation assistance at discharge from rehabilitation and those who did not. Data were drawn from the SCI Model Systems National Database for 1,635 people with tetraplegia who completed a 1-year follow-up ...

Study examined the effects of marital status, marital transitions, and sex on the well-being of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) in the years since injury, examining the applicability of the marital resource and crisis models for this population. The marital resource model holds that marriage has substantial benefits ...

Study examined the associations of job acquisition and job retention to health status as represented by secondary conditions, hospitalizations, and nursing home stays for adults with spinal cord injury (SCI). Two samples of adults participating in the SCI Model Systems were recruited for the study. The first sample consisted ...

Author provides commentary on 3 articles in this journal issue that are the result of close collaboration among investigators interested in improving the conceptualization and measurement of participation. These articles offer: (1) a new tool for measuring participation, the Participation Assessment with Recombined Tools-Objective (PART-O), which combines items from ...

Article provides an overview of conceptual and methodological issues affecting participation measurement and offer guidance to researchers wishing to incorporate participation measures in their work. Examples of the development and use of participation measures are presented to: (1) outline the types and characteristics of participation measures, (2) enumerate various ...

Study developed a measure of participation enfranchisement that assesses the extent to which people with and without disabilities feel they participate in the community in a manner that is personally valuable, as opposed to assessing actual performance of community-based activities. A draft instrument was pilot-tested with 326 adults who ...

Study identified changes in employment status and earnings after spinal cord injury (SCI). Interview data were collected collaboratively at 3 centers designated as SCI Model Systems. The employment rate substantially decreased from 83.3 percent at injury to 24.5 percent at follow-up (average of 3.8 years post injury). There were ...

Study examined the effect of sensory sparing on completion of rehabilitation on neurologic, functional, and social outcomes reported at 1 year in people with motor complete spinal cord injury (SCI). Secondary analysis was conducted of data submitted to the National SCI Statistical Center Database. Of the 4,106 patients evaluated ...

Study measured the wheelchair mobility of people with a spinal cord injury (SCI), and assessed the relationship between wheelchair mobility and demographics, type of manual wheelchair, and participation. Participants were 132 people with SCI from 6 Model SCI Systems who used a manual wheelchair as their primary means of ...