Frailty Affects Outcomes After Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

In patients less than 75 years of age frailty is a key predictor of worse outcome after traumatic spinal cord injury, revealed new study published in Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. Click here to read the full-text article on the Journal of Neurotrauma website through December 21, 2019. "The Effect of Frailty on Outcome after Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury" was coauthored by John Street, MD, PhD, University of British Columbia and Vancouver Spine Surgery Institute (Vancouver, Canada) and colleagues from University of British Columbia, Vancouver Spine Surgery Institute, Rick Hansen Institute (Vancouver), and Northern Ontario School of Medicine (Thunder Bay).

The researchers examined the effect of patient age, Total Motor Score on admission, and score on a frailty index on adverse events, acute length of hospital stay, in-hospital death, and discharge destination (home or other). They identified the need for more accurate tools to measure frailty in the elderly.

"The observation that frailty is an important risk factor for poor post-operative outcomes in younger spinal cord injured individuals should help treating physicians reduce the risks of adverse events and other complications," says W. Dalton Dietrich, PhD, Deputy Editor of Journal of Neurotrauma, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami (FL).

Source-Eurekalert