Article

OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate a statistical model to predict wheelchair
skills at discharge (t(2)) from personal and lesion characteristics and
wheelchair skills at the start of spinal cord injury inpatient rehabilitation
(t(1)). DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING:
Eight Dutch rehabilitation
centres. SUBJECTS: One hundred and forty-two patients with a spinal cord injury.
MAIN MEASURES: Models were developed with the performance time and ability score
at t(2) as dependent variables and t(1) scores of performance time and ability
score, age, gender, body mass index, level and completeness of the lesion as
independent variables. The statistical models were evaluated by comparing
individual estimated scores with actual measured scores. RESULTS: The main
independent variables to predict wheelchair skills at discharge were the t(1)
performance time and ability score, age, gender and lesion level. The intraclass
correlation coefficient between the estimated and actual ability score was 0.79
and for the performance time 0.86. However, the 95% limits of agreement and their
confidence intervals were relatively wide for both ability score (-2.3 to 3.4,
range 0-8) and performance time (-12.5 to 8.2, range 11-40 seconds). CONCLUSION:
The prognostic models developed in this study to predict future wheelchair skills
might help planning the course of rehabilitation. The models should be used with
caution in daily clinical practice, but may add useful information to clinical
expertise and knowledge of the individual patient.

Langue : ANGLAIS