Abstract
Study design:
Retrospective, comparative 4-year study.
Objectives:
To identify the clinical characteristics unique to older patients with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Setting:
Turkish Armed Forces Rehabilitation Center, Ankara, Turkey.
Methods:
The study included 870 consecutive patients with SCI that were divided into two groups according to age. Patients aged ⩾60 years at the time of injury constituted the study group, and randomly selected patients aged <60 years that were matched for gender, week of admission and time since injury constituted the control group. Patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics were recorded, compared and analyzed.
Results:
The study group included 73 SCI patients (mean age: 66.98±6.28 years) and the control group included 75 SCI patients (mean age: 33.93±10.67 years). Among the 148 patients, 98 (66.2%) were male. The vast majority of lesions were at the thoracic level (47.3%). In the older group, falls were the most frequent etiology (32.9%), simple falls predominated (62.5%). 49.3% of the study group vs 18.6% of the control group had a non-traumatic cause of SCI. Older patients were found to be less likely to have complete injury (27.4 vs 44%, P=0.035). The most common bladder management method was intermittent catheterization (69.6%) and the number of patients in each group treated with this method did not differ significantly (P>0.05). More patients in the study group had neuropathic pain (50.7 vs 34.7%, P=0.049) and abnormal urinary ultrasound findings (23.3 vs 9.3%, P=0.021).
Conclusion:
Results revealed that older patients with SCI may have different demographic and clinical features compared with younger patients.
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Güzelküçük, Ü., Demir, Y., Kesikburun, S. et al. Spinal cord injury in older population in Turkey. Spinal Cord 52, 850–854 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2014.103
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2014.103
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