The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health-related quality of life in home-based patients with spinal cord injuries in Japan.

CONTEXT: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to maintain social distance and to refrain from going out. As a result, home-based patients with spinal cord injuries (SCI) are not only less able to go out, but they may have difficulty in easily receiving long-term care services. There are concerns that their health-related quality of life (HRQOL) may have deteriorated. We aimed to clarify the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on HRQOL in home-based patients with SCI.In June 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was finally settling down in Japan, we conducted a mail survey of 266 patients with SCI regarding changes in the frequency of going out, the long-term care services, and their HRQOL due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They had all been discharged from our hospital (Rehabilitation medical center) by 2019, and were expected to be living at home. We received answers from 135 patients about their HRQOL. FINDINGS: Respondent characteristics indicated that many of them were elderly (74.1% were over 60 years of age) and many had cervical SCI (70.5%). Worsened HRQOL since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was reported by 40% of respondents. The most commonly reported dimension was pain/discomfort. Significantly, many had been injured comparatively recently and had reduced frequency of going out and receiving home-visit nursing or rehabilitation services than patients whose HRQOL was unchanged. CONCLUSION/ CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This study clarifies the negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on HRQOL in home-based patients with SCI. Many respondents had worsened HRQOL, in particular pain/discomfort. It was suggested that the decrease in the frequency of going out may be one of the factors that affected the deterioration of their HRQOL.

Clinical introduction and benefits of non-invasive ventilation for above C3 cervical spinal cord injury.

Study design: Retrospective study.Objectives: To determine the best time to introduce non-invasive ventilation (NIV), clinical effectiveness of NIV, and complications of long-term use of NIV in patients with high-level cervical spinal cord injuries (CSCI).Setting: Public Hospital, Japan.Methods: The subjects were 14 tracheostomy ventilator-dependent patients, with above C3 spinal lesions, and American Spinal Cord Injury Association Impairment Scale A (ASIA A). They were referred to our clinic between 2005 and 2010 for switching mechanical ventilation support system from tracheostomy ventilation to NIV. Respiratory function tests were measured before and after NIV. Patients who were successfully switched to NIV were interviewed two years later and asked about their health and social status.Results: Eleven patients were successfully switched to NIV. The success rate of switching to NIV within 1 year was also high (P < 0.05). NIV improved the vital capacity of C2 ASIA A and C1 ASIA A patients with adequate respiratory accessory muscle strength sufficient to expand the chest wall. The time on ventilator-free spontaneous breathing increased or did not deteriorate after NIV. Three C1 ASIA A patients with insufficient muscle strength to expand the thorax mastered glossopharyngeal breathing and enjoyed a short ventilator-free time. All patients who were successfully switched to NIV lived in the community. Two patients developed minor complications after discharge and two died later for unrelated causes.Conclusion: Ventilator-dependent patients should be switched to NIV within 1 year of injury. Long-term NIV can improve respiratory function and clinical outcome.

Long-term ventilation for high-level tetraplegia: a report of 2 cases of noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation.

Ventilator-dependent patients with tetraplegia rarely use noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV) for long-term ventilation. We report 2 patients with high-level traumatic tetraplegia who were able to return home after being changed from traditional ventilation to NPPV. When they were referred to our hospital from acute care hospitals 2 to 6 months after injury, both were on tracheostomy ventilation with a cuff inflated 24 hours a day, and tidal volume (Vt) settings were low. In case 1, a man with complete C1 tetraplegia was admitted to our hospital 6 months after injury. We changed ventilator settings to high Vt and introduced NPPV. He was discharged home with NPPV with a volume-setting ventilator. Case 2 involved a man in his late twenties with complete C1 tetraplegia who was discharged home with NPPV. After discharge, he trained in glossopharyngeal breathing by himself, enabling him to breathe up to 1900mL of maximum insufflation capacity. Both have lived nearly 1 year without pulmonary complications in the community. They use visiting nurses 3 times a week and services of visiting caregivers. Further study is needed to determine the usefulness of NPPV for long-term ventilatory management.