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Predictors of quality of life of individuals living in Brazil with spinal cord injury/disease

Abstract

Study design

A cross-sectional, descriptive study.

Objectives

To investigate the demographic, clinical behavioral, and rehabilitation predictors of the quality of life (QoL) of people with spinal cord injury/disease (SCI/D) in a middle-income country.

Method

Ninety-five participants living in the community were evaluated with the following instruments: World Health Organization Quality of Life - Bref; International SCI Core DataSet; Clinical Interview; Spinal Cord Secondary Conditions Scale and Patient Health Questionnaire; Numerical Pain Intensity Scale; Short-Form 12 Health Survey - Item 8 (how much pain hinders activities); Patient Health Questionnaire 2, Numerical Fatigue Scale. Data were analyzed via Spearman correlation, univariate analysis, and multiple regression to explain the effects associated with quality-of-life predictors.

Results

The main factors that decreased quality of life were fatigue (by 11.5%), depression (by 5.5–12.8%), pain (by 1.3 in total life quality, in the physical domain by 8.6–9.6%), sores (15.6% in the physical domain only). The practice of sports increased the total quality of life by 14.4%, in the physical domain by 11.9%, in the psychological domain by 17.2%, and in the social domain by 23.7%.

Conclusions

Fatigue, risk of depression, pain, and the presence of sores are predictors of poor quality of life, and sports are a predictor of a better quality of life, for people with spinal cord injury. Multidisciplinary rehabilitation, in addition to policies, to increase accessibility and social inclusion, and incentives or subsidies for the practice of sports could improve QoL following SCI/D.

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Data availability

The data generated and analyzed during this study or additional data are available from the corresponding author or within the published article and its supplementary files.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the people with spinal cord injury who generously dedicated their time to participate in this study. The professionals of the Spinal Cord Injury or Disease Outpatient Clinic of the Division of Physical Medicine of the Institute of Orthopedics Traumatology of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (IOT-HCFMUSP) for allowing and supporting the development of this work. Paulo Santos, Renato Eguti, and Silvia N Elian Ph.D., of the Center for Applied Statistics, Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of São Paulo (CEA-IME-USP) for statistical work. The Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, USA, for financial support of the International SCI Quality of Life Basic DataSet (SCI-QOLBD) validation project. The authors received no specific funding for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

AASNC and JG conceptualized and designed the study. AASNC and CW collected data which was then analyzed and interpreted by AASNC and JG. AASNC drafted the manuscript, and JG, ACA, DGT, and CW critically revised and approved the final article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alice A. S. N. Christofi.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

The research ethics committee of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo approved the study (no. 1264/2017).

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Christofi, A.A.S.N., Tate, D.G., Witter, C. et al. Predictors of quality of life of individuals living in Brazil with spinal cord injury/disease. Spinal Cord 61, 253–259 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-023-00881-7

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