Abstract
Objective
To describe functioning in people living with spinal cord injuries (SCI) in Switzerland.
Design
Secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data.
Setting
Community, Switzerland.
Participants
Individuals (N=1549) 16 years of age or older with a history of traumatic or nontraumatic
SCI and permanently residing in Switzerland.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Functioning was operationalized through 4 domains: (1) impairments in body functions;
(2) impairments in mental functions; (3) independence in performing activities; and
(4) performance problems in participation.
Results
Univariate analysis indicated a high prevalence of problems in 5 areas: (1) housework;
(2) climbing stairs; (3) tiredness; (4) spasticity; and (5) chronic pain. Graphical
modeling showed a strong association among the four domains of functioning. Moreover,
we found that the differences in the dependence structures were significant between
the paraplegia SCI population and the tetraplegia SCI population.
Conclusions
This study is a first study in the epidemiology of functioning of people living with
SCI in Switzerland. Using univariate and graphical modeling approaches, we proposed
an empirical foundation for developing hypotheses on functioning in each domain and
category that could inform health systems on people’s health needs.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
DAG (directed acyclic graph), ICF (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health), SCI (spinal cord injuries), SCIM-SR (Spinal Cord Injury Independence Measure Self-Report), SwiSCI (Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort Study)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 09, 2018
Footnotes
Disclosures: None.
SwiSCI Steering Committee members: Xavier Jordan, Bertrand Léger (Clinique Romande de Réadaptation, Sion); Michael Baumberger, Hans Peter Gmünder (Swiss Paraplegic Center, Nottwil); Armin Curt, Martin Schubert (University Clinic Balgrist, Zürich); Kerstin Hug, Margret Hund-Georgiadis (REHAB Basel, Basel); Hans Georg Koch (Swiss Paraplegic Association, Nottwil); n.n. (Parahelp, Nottwil); Hardy Landolt (Representative for persons with SCI, Glarus); Hannjörg Koch (SUVA, Luzern); Mirjam Brach, Gerold Stucki (Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil); Martin Brinkhof, Christine Thyrian (SwiSCI Study Center at Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil).
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
