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Prevalence, causes, and risk profile of rehospitalizations in persons with spinal cord injury within the first 10 years after primary rehabilitation

Spinal Cord (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Study design

Retrospective cohort study.

Objectives

This study aims to identify the prevalence, causes, time pattern and risk profile of rehospitalizations in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) within a 10-year period following primary rehabilitation and identify most common secondary health conditions (SHCs) and risk profile leading to rehospitalizations.

Setting

Specialized hospital and rehabilitation center for SCI in Switzerland.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was conducted on clinical data from persons with SCI, discharged from initial rehabilitation between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2012, and followed up over a period of ten years post-discharge. Descriptive statistical methods were utilized to compute the rehospitalization prevalence and to identify the primary reasons.

Results

225 participants were included, 70% were male (n = 179), and the mean age was 50 years (SD 19, Range 17–88). 54% were classified as having paraplegia (n = 122), and 77% incomplete injuries (n = 180). Over the 10-year observation period post-discharge, 120 were readmitted at least once, (prevalence 53%). In total, 66 persons (29%) were rehospitalized once or twice, while 54 persons (24%) were rehospitalized three or more times, with a maximum of 14 times. In the 10-year period, the most common SHCs leading to rehospitalization were infections (19%), pressure injuries (18%), and gastrointestinal problems (16%). During the study period, 57 persons (25%) passed away.

Conclusions

Rehospitalization after primary rehabilitation is frequent and in the majority of the cases due to SHCs. The study findings are valuable for resource planning in healthcare and can guide the implementation of preventive measures to avoid SHCs.

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Data availability

Data supporting the findings presented in this study are partly available within the article itself as well as from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Paraplegic Centre, Nottwil, Switzerland

    Inge E. Eriks-Hoogland, Lea Studer, Benjamin Hirsch & Jürgen Pannek

  2. Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil, Switzerland

    Inge E. Eriks-Hoogland, Lorena L. Müller & Cristina Ehrmann

  3. Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine at the University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland

    Inge E. Eriks-Hoogland & Armin Gemperli

  4. Department of Urology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Jürgen Pannek

Authors
  1. Inge E. Eriks-Hoogland
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  4. Benjamin Hirsch
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  6. Armin Gemperli
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  7. Cristina Ehrmann
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Contributions

IEH, LS, JP and BH worked out the conception and design of the study. LS and BH performed data extraction. CE, BH and AG analysed the data and all authors contributed to data interpretation. IEH, LS, LM drafted the article, and all other authors revised it critically for important intellectual content. All authors approved the definitive version to be published.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Inge E. Eriks-Hoogland.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

Approval from the ethics committee of northwest and central Switzerland (Project -ID 2022-00435) was obtained before commencing the study. All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations. All individuals gave informed consent prior to the study for the anonymized use of their data for research purposes.

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Eriks-Hoogland, I.E., Studer, L., Müller, L.L. et al. Prevalence, causes, and risk profile of rehospitalizations in persons with spinal cord injury within the first 10 years after primary rehabilitation. Spinal Cord (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-024-01028-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-024-01028-y

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