Complications during the Inpatient Rehabilitation of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Patients in Gaza Strip

Abstract

Complications are common following SCI and its occurrence has negative effect for the patient, rehabilitation team and for the community as a whole. The overall aim of this study was to know the incidence of the most common complications during inpatient rehabilitation among patients with traumatic spinal cord injury in Gazastrip. Specific objectives were to examine the effect of socio-demographic characteristic on the incidence of the complications during the inpatient rehabilitation, to examine the effect of patient’s degree and level of injury on the incidence of the most complications and to describe the effect of Israeli assaults on the incidence of traumatic spinal cord injury in Gaza strip. Study Design: Retrospective study. Setting: EL-Wafa Medical Rehabilitation and Specialized Surgery Hospital (EWMRSSH) atGaza strip,Palestine. Methods: Retrospective review of 81 files of all surviving TSCI subjects who were admitted to EWMRSSH to the first time from January 2002 to December 2007 was carried out. Ten of the most common complications were considered The incidence of these complications were assessed three times: at admission, during inpatient rehabilitation and at discharge. Results: There is a net dominance of young males as the male / female ratio is 8/1 and the subjects who are 15-20 years old constitute the largest portion of the study population. The leading cause of TSCI is gun shot (65.4%) followed by falling down (28.4%). Most of the gun shot result from Israeli assault (43.2%) and mainly directed to the upper part of the body. About half of the study population (49.4%) has complete SCI, (79%) were paraplegic. The median LOS for all TSCI subjects is 74 days, and the mean is 80.96 days. The most common complications detected at admission was flaccidity (59.3%) followed by PU (41.0%) and UTI (39.5%) and the most common complications detected during inpatient was pain (58.8%) followed by UTI (56.8%) and GC (40.7%). Conclusion: Complications are common following SCI, so educational programs for rehabilitation team need to focus on the prevention and early recognition of these complications.