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Socioeconomic consequences of traumatic and non-traumatic spinal cord injuries: a Danish nationwide register-based
Pernille Langer Soendergaard1,2,3, Anne Norup4,5, Marie Kruse6
1Neurorehabilitation Research and Knowledge Centre, Rigshospitalet, Glostrup, Denmark. pernille.langer.soendergaard@regionh.dk.
Study Design:
A nationwide population-based register study.
Objectives:
To investigate the socioeconomic consequences of traumatic (tSCI) and non-traumatic (ntSCI) spinal cord injuries (SCI) in relation to health care costs, risk of job loss, and divorce.
Setting:
Denmark.
Methods:
All survivors admitted for specialized SCI rehabilitation from 2008 to 2018 were included (n = 1751), together with their relatives (n = 3084). Control groups for the SCI group (n = 8139) and their relatives (n = 15,921) were identified. Data on socioeconomics up to 2 years before and up to 4 years after the injury year were included.
Results:
Survivors of tSCI and ntSCI had significantly increased health care costs 2 years before injury compared to their controls, and increased health care cost was maintained 4 years after the injury (all p values < 0.0001). The SCI group had significantly increased risk of job loss (OR = 9.26; 95% CI: 7.70-11.15) and higher risk of divorce (OR = 1.44; 95% CI: 1.08-1.87) the 3 following years after injury compared to controls, but risk of divorce was only significant for the ntSCI group (OR = 1.58; 95% CI: 1.09-2.29). No significant differences on health care cost and job loss between the group of relatives of SCI survivors and their controls were found, except for the relatives (n = 1604) of SCI survivors <18 years old, where a higher risk of job loss was found (OR = 1.43, 95% CI 0.97-2.1).
Conclusion:
These results emphasize that socioeconomic consequences for survivors of both tSCI and ntSCI are pervasive and long-lasting.
