Article

OBJECTIVE: Compare the demographic
characteristics and rehabilitation outcomes for both non-traumatic SCI (NT-SCI)
and traumatic SCI (T-SCI) patients admitted into either specialist spinal cord
injury rehabilitation units (SCIRUs) or non-specialist rehabilitation units
(NSRUs). SETTING: Rehabilitation units in Australia. METHODS: The Australasian
Rehabilitation Outcomes Centre maintains a national database on inpatients
admitted to most (130/145) public and private rehabilitation units in Australia.
Patients were included if they had a diagnosis of spinal cord injury (SCI) and
were discharged between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2006. Patients were
excluded if admitted for <7 days, only for assessment, or were a readmission
following a previous SCI. RESULTS: There were 668 patients with confirmed SCI
admitted (NT-SCI n=361, 54.0%; T-SCI n=307, 46.0%). NT-SCI patients were much
less likely to be admitted into a specialist SCIRU (30.5%) compared with T-SCI
patients (70.4%). For both NT-SCI and T-SCI patients, those admitted to a
specialist SCIRU tended to be younger (P=0.000), have a longer length of stay in
rehabilitation (P=0.000), and lower Functional Independence Measure (FIM) motor
subscale score on admission
(P=0.000) than those admitted to a NSRU. For NT-SCI
patients, after adjusting for covariates, those admitted into specialist SCIRU
had greater improvement in their FIM motor score during rehabilitation. This
finding was not demonstrated in T-SCI patients.
CONCLUSIONS: There are
differences in the characteristics of SCI patients admitted to SCIRU compared
with NSRU. NT-SCI patients admitted to SCIRU have greater functional gain.

Langue : ANGLAIS