Gender and Its Impact on Postacute Secondary Medical Complications Following Spinal Cord Injury

This study used a case-control design to examine gender-based differences in the occurrence of postacute secondary complications following spinal cord injury (SCI). Three participant cohorts (1 year postinjury, 5 years and more postinjury, and 10 years and more postinjury) were utilized. Men with SCI were matched, case for case, to women with SCI based on age at follow-up, marital status, educational background, category of neurologic impairment at rehabilitation discharge, American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) impairment scale, etiology of injury, bladder management at rehabilitation discharge, and ventilator use at rehabilitation discharge. Results showed that gender was largely unrelated to subsequent development of medical complications. Study limitations and future directions are also discussed.