PAEDIATRIC SPINAL CORD INJURY AND LONG-TERM SOCIAL OUTCOMES

Dr Richa Kulshrestha, Mr J Chowdhury, Mr A Osman, Mr N Kumar, Mr Budhiti, Mr Jan Kupier, Emma Fosbrook, Julie Ferguson, Charlotte Perkins, Ellen Thompson.

Funded by the Orthopaedic Institute

Spinal cord injuries although uncommon in children, can have a devastating impact on the child, their family and wider society. All areas of the child’s life will be impacted for their long remaining lifespan and the effect of their spinal cord injury will be complicated by the impact of their growth and development.

Spinal cord injury patients are vulnerable to a range of complications and will require prolonged specialist care and rehabilitation. The principal goal of such rehabilitation is to achieve a reasonable quality of life.

There is limited research evidence available about the long[1]term outcomes of spinal cord injury occurring in childhood, especially about quality of life, social activity and participation after reaching adulthood. Thus, the aim of this study is to explore overall quality of life, activity and participation values for adults who have had a spinal cord injury during childhood.

Participants complete a telephone interview and will be compared to matched controls who have had a spinal cord injury during adulthood. The study has almost finished recruiting the childhood injury group and will shortly be moving on to recruiting the adult group. Achieving a better understanding of the outcomes for childhood onset spinal cord injury is key to understanding the success of treatment pathways and may inform targeting resources more effectively to provide the best possible rehabilitation programs.