International spinal cord injury spinal column injury basic data set.

STUDY DESIGN: Survey of expert opinion, feedback and final consensus. OBJECTIVES: To describe the development of the International Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Spinal Column Injury Basic Data Set. SETTING: International working group. METHODS: A committee of experts was established to select and define data elements. The data set was then disseminated to the appropriate committees and organizations for comment. All suggested revisions were considered and the final version was endorsed by both the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) and the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA). RESULTS: The data set consists of seven variables: (1) penetrating or blunt injury, (2) spinal column injury(ies), (3) single or multiple level spinal column injury(ies), (4) spinal column injury level number, (5) spinal column injury level, (6) disc and/or posterior ligamentous complex injury and (7) traumatic translation. All variables are coded using numbers or characters. For variables 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7, response categories are assigned a numeric point score. Variable 5 assigns both characters and numbers to identify level(s) of spinal injured vertebra(e). When there are several distinct and separate levels of injury, then each one is described using variables 4 through 7. CONCLUSION: The International SCI Spinal Column Injury Basic Data Set was developed to facilitate comparisons of spinal column injury data among studies, centres and countries. This data set is part of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Common Data Element project, and tools are now available to assist investigators in collecting this data in their SCI clinical studies.