It does not matter how fit you are or what age it happens, but a spine injury can be life-altering for survivors who face a higher risk than others from a “myriad” of potentially fatal health problems later on.
Published in JAMA Network Open, an American Medical Association journal, the study showed that patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) report to doctors years later with seemingly unrelated, but sometimes deadly, conditions such as diabetes, stroke and hypertension (high blood pressure), as well as more predictable concerns like depression.
“TSCI was associated with increased long-term risk of multisystem morbidity and elevated mortality, even in previously healthy patients,” say researchers at Mass General Brigham, a combination of Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the United States.
Immediate problems related to TSCI – such as difficulty breathing, fluctuating blood pressure and heart rates – have long been studied, according to the researchers.
They explained that they wanted to find out more about how such spinal injuries may make patients more likely to suffer from diseases usually associated with poor diet and lack of exercise.
The team looked at patient data from Mass General Brigham and from the University of California, also in the US, to compare outcomes for almost 3,000 spine injury patients and others.
“Patients with a history of TSCI had significantly higher risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke and diabetes, along with other neurologic and psychiatric conditions,” the researchers said, warning that such injuries were “associated with an increased risk of death, even in previously healthy patients”.
“The journey doesn’t end when patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries leave the hospital or rehab,” said study corresponding author and Mass General Brigham neurologist Dr Saef Izzy.
”Programmes should be implemented to identify patients at risk so that we can better manage their chronic care and address health issues that put patients at higher risk of death,” he added. – dpa
