Abstract
Introduction and Aim A spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to lesion dependent loss of respiratory muscle innervation. Therefore, reference equations with respect to the lesion level have to be established for individuals with SCI. Since in individuals with recent SCI, respiratory function increases until one year after the end of inpatient rehabilitation, chronic SCI of > 2 years is necessary to get stable data.
Methods: A multicenter study with 10 rehabilitation centers for SCI was performed (Switzerland n=1, The Netherlands n=8, Australia n=1). Inclusion criteria: chronic (>2 years), traumatic and motor complete SCI from C4-T12.The most important parameters of respiratory function, FVC, FEV1, PEF, Pimax and Pemax, were measured. The independent parameters gender, age, height, weight, time post injury, lesion level and smoking were also determined. For each of the 5 respiratory function parameters one model was calculated using multilevel regression analysis. All independent parameters were included into the analysis and in case of significance (p>0.05) integrated into the final model.
Results: A total of 535 individuals were analysed. As expected, lower lesion level and male gender show a positive effect on all paramters of respiratory function. Higher age has a negative influence on all parameters except Pimax. Time post injury has an additive negative effect on FVC and FEV1. PEF is negativley influenced by former smoking.
Conclusions: Due to the high influence of the lesion level on all 5 respiratory function parameters assessed, separate models for calculation of reference values are necessary for individuals with SCI.
- Copyright ©ERS 2015