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Updated: Feb 19, 2026
Author Spotlight: Insight Into Innovations in Spinal Cord Injury Research
Published on: January 19, 2024
Representativeness of the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems National Database
Jessica M Ketchum1,2, Jeffrey P Cuthbert3, Anne Deutsch4,5,6
1Research Department, Craig Hospital, Englewood, CO, USA. jketchum@craighospital.org.
Study Design:
Secondary analysis of prospectively collected observational data.
Objectives:
To assess the representativeness of the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems National Database (SCIMS-NDB) of all adults aged 18 years or older receiving inpatient rehabilitation in the United States (US) for new onset traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI).
Setting:
Inpatient rehabilitation centers in the US.
Methods:
We compared demographic, functional status, and injury characteristics (nine categorical variables comprising of 46 categories and two continuous variables) between the SCIMS-NDB (N = 5969) and UDS-PRO/eRehabData (N = 99,142) cases discharged from inpatient rehabilitation in 2000-2010.
Results:
There are negligible differences (<5%) between SCIMS-NDB patients and the population for 31 of the 48 comparisons. Minor differences (5-10%) exist for age categories, sex, race/ethnicity, marital status, FIM Motor score, and time from injury to rehabilitation admission. Important differences (>10%) exist in mean age and preinjury occupational status; the SCIMS-NDB sample was younger and included a higher percentage of individuals who were employed (62.7 vs. 41.7%) and fewer who were retired (10.2 vs. 36.1%).
Conclusions:
Adults in the SCIMS-NDB are largely representative of the population of adults receiving inpatient rehabilitation for new onset TSCI in the US. However, users of the SCIMS-NDB may need to adjust statistically for differences in age and preinjury occupational status to improve generalizability of findings.
