Long-term Outcomes and Life Satisfaction of Adults With Pediatric-Onset Spinal Cord Injuries

The ultimate goal of rehabilitation for children and adolescents with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) is to assure that they can grow up to have as productive and satisfying lives as their peers. Understanding factors associated with these outcomes of our patients after they have become adults may help to identify interventions and rehabilitation strategies that will optimize long-term outcomes. Long-term studies of adults with pediatric-onset SCI are needed to identify important outcomes, including survival, participation, health status and health-related quality of life, and life-satisfaction. Further, these outcomes need to be compared to population norms. Predictive models of important outcomes will be developed using independent factors, including demographic, impairment, functional limitation, participation, and environmental and personal factors. In addition, the impact of age at injury, upper extremity reconstruction or functional electrical stimulation implants, and the Mitrofanoff procedure on adult outcomes will be assessed. The stability of selected outcomes in comparison to normative and census data will be determined and factors associated with changes in these outcomes will be assessed.