THE IMPACT OF ACUTE INPATIENT REHABILITATION ON SUBSEQUENT QUALITY OF LIFE IN CHRONIC SCI

Abstract

There are 15,000 new cases of spinal cord injury per year in India. The majority of persons survive due to improved quality of acute care compared to the past. Survival impacts Quality of Life. In developed countries quadriplegia is associated with a poor QOL on average. South Asian QOL on average is lower than in developed countries so those with diseases are worse off. A large part of expenditure is on early surgery and subsequent home based therapy. Most are managed at centers without medical rehabilitation units. Once stabilized the patient is discharged for home based care. The net impact leads to lost follow-up or succumbing to associated life-threatening complications. It is established that multidisciplinary rehabilitation improves outcomes in this population. Interventions to improve function thereby QOL may prove cost-effective in the long run. There is no Indian data on the impact on QOL comparing acute inpatient rehabilitation to early home based care in tetraplegia. In this study we report the long-term impact of acute medical rehabilitation with follow-up on Quality of Life in Chronic SCI. We specically report this in Chronic SCI patients greater than 1 year from injury using the EQ5DL3, and VAS.