Quality of life in adults with spinal cord injury living in the community

Abstract

Study design:The study design used is cross-sectional descriptive survey.Objectives:The aim of this study is to describe the subjective and objective quality of life (QoL) of adults with chronic non-traumatic spinal cord injury (NT-SCI) and to compare the objective and subjective QoL of adults with chronic NT-SCI with adults who have a chronic traumatic spinal cord injury (T-SCI) and the general population.Setting:Living in the general community (non-residential care), Australia.Participants:The study included 443 adults with SCI (T-SCI, n=381) (NT-SCI, n=62), all SCI 6months duration.Intervention: Not applicable.Main Outcome Measures:Objective and subjective QoL domainsComprehensive QoL Scale for Adults, version 5 (COMQoL-A5); acceptance subscalethe Spinal Cord Lesion Coping Strategies Questionnaire, version 1 Australia (SCL CSQ v1.0 Australia).Results:Despite demographic differences, only the objective QoL domain material (higher in NT-SCI) and the subjective QoL domain health (lower in NT-SCI) were significantly different between the SCI subgroups. In contrast, five of the seven objective domains and four of the seven subjective domains were significantly lower in the SCI sample as a whole, compared with the general population. Post hoc analyses suggested that aetiology of the SCI was not responsible for QoL differences within the cohort with SCI.Conclusion:On the whole, aetiology makes little difference to QoL outcomes after SCI. The QoL of adults with chronic T-SCI and NT-SCI fall significantly below that of the general population in most domains. © 2011 International Spinal Cord Society. All rights reserved.