TY - JOUR PY - 2024// TI - Impact of frailty on functional improvement following traumatic spinal cord injury: a Japanese single-center experience JO - Journal of clinical medicine A1 - Konomi, Tsunehiko A1 - Yoshikawa, Minako A1 - Kajikawa, Keita A1 - Kitagawa, Takahiro A1 - Kobayashi, Yoshiomi A1 - Furukawa, Mitsuru A1 - Fujiyoshi, Kanehiro A1 - Yato, Yoshiyuki SP - EP - VL - 13 IS - 14 N2 - Study Design: This is a retrospective case series study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate whether frailty contributes to functional recovery in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).

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.

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).

CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that individuals with pre-existing frailty before SCI experience poorer SCIM improvement rates and face challenges in returning home.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 2077-0383 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm13144154 ID - ref1 ER -