Predicting quality of life 5 years after medical discharge for traumatic spinal cord injury

Abstract

What is already known on this subject? Life satisfaction and self-rated health status are important aspects of quality of life following traumatic spinal cord injury. Functional impairment has been inconsistently predictive of these variables over time. Prospective research to date has not examined the mediating effects of participation in predicting quality of life. What does this study add? The results indicate that greater functional impairment and pain are prospectively predictive of lower participation. Greater participation, in turn, is prospectively predictive of greater quality of life. Participation appears to mediate the prospective influence of functional impairment, family satisfaction, and pain to quality of life.