Early prognostic factors for walking in spinal cord injuries

The authors present a prospective analysis with 1 year follow-up of about 157 consecutive spinal cord injured patients admitted to the Bordeaux CHU, over a 3 year period (1982-1985). They present a method of analysing the walking status recovery in patients with spinal cord injuries from the early factors recorded on initial clinical examination. Twenty eight per cent of all patients are 'functional walkers', 1 year after injury. Three early factors were selected: age; the level of injury; and the initial Yale Scale Score. Only the age and the initial Yale Scale Score are independent predictive factors, according to the Cox model. The authors present a model of walking status recovery, 1 year after the injury, predicted from age and the initial Yale Scale Score.