Routinely Measured Hematological Markers Can Help to Predict American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale...

Area of Science:

• Biomarkers
• Neurology
• Spinal Cord Injury Research

Background:

• Predicting neurological outcomes after spinal cord injury (SCI) remains challenging.
• Current prognostic tools, like the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS), have limitations.
• There is a growing need for reliable biomarkers to improve SCI outcome prediction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the prognostic value of routinely measured blood biomarkers in SCI patients.
• To develop predictive models for American Spinal Injury Association (AIS) scores at discharge and 12 months post-injury.
• To identify specific blood markers that enhance the prediction of neurological recovery.

Main Methods:

• Collected routine blood and clinical data from 417 SCI patients.
• Excluded blood measures assessed in less than 50% of patients.
• Developed linear regression models, with and without elastic net penalization, to predict AIS and Spinal Cord Independence Measure III (SCIM-III) scores.

Main Results:

• Liver function markers, such as alanine transaminase, improved predictions of SCIM-III scores at discharge and 12 months.
• Components of a total blood count, including hemoglobin, enhanced predictions of AIS motor and sensory scores.
• Findings support previous preliminary results, confirming the prognostic utility of routine blood tests.

Conclusions:

• Routine blood biomarkers, particularly liver function markers and hemoglobin, offer significant prognostic value in SCI.
• These findings provide further evidence for integrating routine blood tests into SCI outcome prediction models.
• Markers of liver function are of particular interest for predicting recovery in SCI patients.