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Updated: Jan 19, 2026
An In Vivo Duo-color Method for Imaging Vascular Dynamics Following Contusive Spinal Cord Injury
Published on: December 31, 2017
Serum lipid profile in subjects with traumatic spinal cord injury
Martin Laclaustra1, Elizabeth Louise Maayken Van Den Berg2, Yamilée Hurtado-Roca3
1Department of Epidemiology, Atherothrombosis and Imaging, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), Madrid, Spain; Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain; Department of Epidemiology, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
Background And Aims:
Few large studies have examined the relationship between spinal cord injury (SCI) and lipid profile. We studied serum lipid concentrations in subjects with traumatic SCI in relation to the degree of neurological involvement and time since injury, and compared them with values from a reference sample for the Spanish population (DRECE study).
Materials And Methods:
A retrospective cohort was built from 177 consecutive cases with traumatic SCI admitted to the SCI unit of the Miguel Servet Hospital in Aragon (Spain). Outcome measures (cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-c and LDL-c levels) were analyzed according to the ASIA Impairment Scale (AIS), neurological level of injury (involvement of all limbs vs. only lower limbs), and time since injury. All analyses were adjusted for age and sex.
Results:
Cases without preserved motor function (AIS A or B) had lower total and HDL cholesterol than the others (-11.4 [-21.5, -1.4] mg/dL total cholesterol and -5.1 [-8.8, -1.4] mg/dL HDL-c), and cases with all-limb involvement had lower total, HDL, and LDL cholesterol than those with only lower-limb involvement (-14.0 [-24.6, -3.4] mg/dL total cholesterol, -4.1 [-8.0, -0.2] mg/dL HDL-c, and -10.0 [-19.7, -0.3] mg/dL LDL-c) (all p<0.05). No association was found between lipid concentrations and time since injury. Concentrations of lipid subfractions and triglycerides in SCI subjects were lower than in sex- and age-stratified values from the reference sample.
Conclusion:
A high degree of neurological involvement in SCI (anatomically higher lesions and AIS A or B) is associated with lower total cholesterol and HDL-c.
