Patient and caregiver knowledge of autonomic dysreflexia among youth with spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the prevalence and knowledge of autonomic dysreflexia (AD) from patient and caregiver perspectives, and its relationship to the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale (AIS) classification, level of injury, severity of injury, injury etiology, gender and race.

METHODS: Participants were between 1 and 21 years old. Demographic information was collected from the medical records, and patients and caregivers were interviewed with the following questions: (1) Does the patient experience AD? (2) Does the patient/caregiver know what AD is? (3) Can the patient/caregiver name three signs/symptoms of an AD episode? (4) Does the patient/caregiver know how to treat AD?

RESULTS: Overall, 40% of patients and 44% of caregivers said that the patient was symptomatic for AD. AD was more common in those with traumatic etiologies, in patients with injuries at or above T6 and those with greater injury severity as measured by the AIS. For patients and caregivers, AD was less common in the youngest age group (0-5 years old). Patients with greater knowledge of AD were more likely to have traumatic etiologies, have T6 or higher injuries, be in the oldest age at injury group, be older at time of examination and have had a shorter duration of injury.

CONCLUSIONS: AD seems to be more common in patients with traumatic injuries, older ages at injury, greater injury severity on the AIS and level of injury at or above T6.