Preventive Health Care Among Community-dwelling Persons with Spinal Cord Injury

Objective: To describe preventive health examinations/tests and behaviors of persons with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Survey.

Setting: SCI clinic and telephone contact.

Participants: A total of 59 persons ≥18 years of age with traumatic SCI.

Intervention: None.

Main Outcome Measures: Preventive health examinations/tests and reason for not receiving an examination or test.

Results: Preventive health tests/examinations received within the past year: flu vaccination (40.7%); eye examination (50.8%); dental check-up (64.4%); physical examination (61.0%); vitamin D level (56.0%); cholesterol level (25.4%); and blood glucose level (39.0%). For men, 20.0% had a prostate examination and 20.0% had a colonoscopy. For women, 25.0% had a pelvic examination and 62.5% had a mammogram in the past 2 years. The most endorsed reasons for not getting an examination/test was "It was my choice" followed by "No one told me to have [examination/test]." The number of years injured had an inverse relationship with having vitamin D level checked (r = -334) and had a positive association with having serum cholesterol level checked (r = .474).

Conclusion: Preventive health tests and examinations in the SCI population are being obtained at about the same rate as in the U.S. population with some exceptions (ie, cholesterol level check, colonoscopy, and pelvic examination); however, the rates are far from the goals of Healthy People 2020. Primary care and SCI clinicians should be proactive in educating their patients about the importance of preventive health, especially those who have been injured for a long time.