Neurological recovery rate and predictive factors of incomplete AIS grade C spinal cord injury in the older aged population

Koji Tamai, Hidetomi Terai, Hiroaki Nakamura, Noriaki Yokogawa, Takeshi Sasagawa, Hiroaki Nakashima, Naoki Segi, Sadayuki Ito, Toru Funayama, Fumihiko Eto, Akihiro Yamaji, Kota Watanabe, Junichi Yamane, Kazuki Takeda, Takeo Furuya, Atsushi Yunde, Hideaki Nakajima, Tomohiro Yamada, Tomohiko Hasegawa, Yoshinori TerashimaRyosuke Hirota, Hidenori Suzuki, Yasuaki Imajo, Shota Ikegami, Masashi Uehara, Hitoshi Tonomura, Munehiro Sakata, Ko Hashimoto, Yoshito Onoda, Kenichi Kawaguchi, Yohei Haruta, Nobuyuki Suzuki, Kenji Kato, Hiroshi Uei, Hirokatsu Sawada, Kazuo Nakanishi, Kosuke Misaki, Akiyoshi Kuroda, Gen Inoue, Kenichiro Kakutani, Yuji Kakiuchi, Katsuhito Kiyasu, Hiroyuki Tominaga, Hiroto Tokumoto, Yoichi Iizuka, Eiji Takasawa, Koji Akeda, Norihiko Takegami, Haruki Funao, Yasushi Oshima, Takashi Kaito, Daisuke Sakai, Toshitaka Yoshii, Tetsuro Ohba, Bungo Otsuki, Shoji Seki, Masashi Miyazaki, Masayuki Ishihara, Seiji Okada, Shiro Imagama, Satoshi Kato

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Study design: Retrospective cohort study. Objectives: To define the prognosis and predictive factors for neurological improvement in older patients with incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) of American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale grade C (AIS-C). Settings: Multi-institutions in Japan. Methods: We included patients aged ≥65 years with traumatic SCI of AIS-C who were treated conservatively or surgically with >3 follow-up months. To identify factors related to neurological improvement, patients were divided into three groups according to their neurological status at the final follow-up, with univariate among-group comparisons of demographics, radiographic, and therapeutic factors. Significant variables were included in the multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: Overall, 296 older patients with SCI of AIS-C on admission were identified (average age: 75.2 years, average follow-up: 18.7 months). Among them, 190 (64.2%) patients improved to AIS-D and 21 (7.1%) patients improved to AIS-E at final follow-up. There were significant among-group differences in age (p = 0.026), body mass index (p = 0.007), status of pre-traumatic activities of daily living (ADL) (p = 0.037), and serum albumin concentrations (p = 0.011). Logistic regression analysis showed no significant differences in variables in the stratified group of patients who improved to AIS-D. Meanwhile, serum albumin was a significant variable in patients who improved to AIS-E (p = 0.026; OR: 6.20, pre-traumatic ADL was omitted due to data skewness). Conclusions: Most older patients with incomplete AIS-C SCI demonstrated at least 1 grade of neurological improvement. However, <10% of patients achieved complete recovery. Key predictors of complete recovery were high serum albumin levels on admission and independent pre-traumatic ADL. Sponsorship: No funding was received for this study.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)149-155
Number of pages7
JournalSpinal Cord
Volume62
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2024

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