@article{ref1,
title="Impact of frailty on functional improvement following traumatic spinal cord injury: a Japanese single-center experience",
journal="Journal of clinical medicine",
year="2024",
author="Konomi, Tsunehiko and Yoshikawa, Minako and Kajikawa, Keita and Kitagawa, Takahiro and Kobayashi, Yoshiomi and Furukawa, Mitsuru and Fujiyoshi, Kanehiro and Yato, Yoshiyuki",
volume="13",
number="14",
pages="-",
abstract="Study Design: This is a retrospective case series study. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate whether frailty contributes to functional recovery in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). <br><br>METHODS: A total of 121 patients with SCI (106 cervical SCI, 15 thoracic SCI) discharged from our center over the past three years were studied. Moreover, 11-factor modified frailty index (mFI) scores, the length of hospital stays, the rate of returning home, and improvement in Spinal Cord Independence Measure (SCIM) scores were assessed retrospectively. <br><br>RESULTS: The average age at the time of injury for all 121 cases was 59.6 years. Based on pre-injury assessments, 24 cases were categorized as the Frail group, and 97 cases were categorized as the Robust group. The Frail group had SCIM improvement rates of 16.7% and a home discharge rate of 45.8%. In contrast, the Robust group had SCIM improvement rates of 33.5% and a home discharge rate of 68.0%, with statistically significant differences between the two groups. A significant negative correlation was observed between mFI scores and SCIM improvement rates (R = -0.231, p = 0.014). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that individuals with pre-existing frailty before SCI experience poorer SCIM improvement rates and face challenges in returning home.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2077-0383",
doi="10.3390/jcm13144154",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm13144154"
}