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Clinical profile of COVID-19 infection among persons with spinal cord injury: a case series

Spinal Cord Series and Cases volume 9, Article number: 34 (2023) Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Study design

Retrospective case series.

Objective

To report the clinical features and outcomes of spinal cord injury (SCI) patients with COVID-19 and to see if they are any different from COVID-19 in the general population.

Setting

A tertiary care hospital in North-East India.

Methods

Data of already diagnosed traumatic SCI patients with COVID-19 infection reporting to the COVID-19 management team (from June 2021 to November 2021) were collected. The source of data was hospital records (admitted patients) and home visits and teleconsultation logs (home isolation patients).

Results

There were eight traumatic SCI patients (five admitted, three in home isolation) with COVID-19 infection. Four patients had complete injury with American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) Grade A, two with AIS Grade C, and one each of Grade B and D respectively. Five patients were cervical level injuries, and others were T10 level and below. Six patients were categorized as mild clinical illness and one each as moderate and severe illness. Cough was the most common symptom which was seen in seven patients. Only two patients needed oxygen therapy. All eight traumatic SCI patients recovered eventually from COVID-19 symptoms and regained their pre-COVID-19 functional status, 1 month after being free from COVID-19 symptoms.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 infection did not result in a worsening of functional ability among SCI people after 1-month post-recovery. It also did not affect the SCI patients in doing activities such as rehabilitation exercises at 6 months follow up.

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Data availability

All data generated during the study can be found within the article.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely thank the participants and their families. The authors also thank the COVID-19 management team, Zoram Medical College, Falkawn, Mizoram, India for providing overall administrative, technical and material support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Zoram Medical College, Falkawn, Mizoram, India

    Chinzah Zonunsanga

  2. Department of Medicine, Zoram Medical College, Falkawn, Mizoram, India

    Vanlal Hruaii

  3. Department of Orthopedics, Zoram Medical College, Falkawn, Mizoram, India

    Joseph Chhakchhuak Vanlalsanga

  4. Department of Respiratory Medicine, Zoram Medical College, Falkawn, Mizoram, India

    Lalnuntluanga Sailo

  5. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

    Asem Rangita Chanu

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  1. Chinzah Zonunsanga
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Contributions

CZ and ARC conceived and designed the study, played an important role in interpreting the results, and drafted and revised the manuscript. VH, JCV, and LS designed the study, acquired data, and played an important role in interpreting the results along with drafting the manuscript. CZ was also additionally involved in acquiring data. ARC revised the different versions of the draft manuscript and finalized the final version which was approved by all the authors. All the authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. ARC confirms that she had full access to the data in the study and takes final responsibility for submitting the article for publication.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Asem Rangita Chanu.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

All procedures involving human participants were in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki 1964 as revised in 2013 and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The Institutional Ethics Committee, Zoram Medical College, Falkawn, Mizoram, India approved the retrospective study (No. F.20016/1/18-ZMC/IEC/63).

Informed consent

The Institutional Ethics Committee waived the requirement for informed written consent due to the retrospective nature of the study.

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Zonunsanga, C., Hruaii, V., Vanlalsanga, J.C. et al. Clinical profile of COVID-19 infection among persons with spinal cord injury: a case series. Spinal Cord Ser Cases 9, 34 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41394-023-00592-4

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