Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesCohort study
Increased Risk of Myocardial Infarction, Heart Failure, and Atrial Fibrillation After Spinal Cord Injury
- Matched cohort study
- 1:3 age- and sex-matched
Authors' conclusion
SCI survivors at all levels were at significantly greater risk for heart disease than non-SCI controls, particularly those with severe disability.
Study context
- Population
- Spinal cord injury survivors and age- and sex-matched non-SCI controls, followed from index date until 2019
- Exposure
- Spinal cord injury (SCI) survivors vs matched non-SCI controls
- SCI survivorsn = 5,083
- Outcome
- Incident MI, HF and AF
- Follow-up
- From index date until 2019
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
SCI survivors vs ControlsAdjusted hazard ratio (95% CI)
MI
2.41(1.93–3.00)
HF
2.24(1.95–2.56)
AF
1.84(1.49–2.28)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | aHR (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| MI, HF and AF in SCI survivors with severe disability (subgroup) — SCI survivors with severe disability vs Controls · MI | 3.74 (2.43–5.76) | |
| MI, HF and AF in SCI survivors with severe disability (subgroup) — SCI survivors with severe disability vs Controls · HF | 3.96 (3.05–5.14) | |
| MI, HF and AF in SCI survivors with severe disability (subgroup) — SCI survivors with severe disability vs Controls · AF | 3.32 (2.18–5.05) | |
| 0.20.5125Adjusted hazard ratio (log scale) |
- Myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF) in SCI survivors with severe disability (subgroup): disability = registered in the National Disability Registry within 1 year from index date
Heart disease by SCI level (subgroup)
- Cervical and lumbar SCI: increased risk regardless of disability, slightly higher with disability
- Thoracic SCI with disability: significantly increased risk vs matched controls
Original publication
Increased Risk of Myocardial Infarction, Heart Failure, and Atrial Fibrillation After Spinal Cord Injury. J Am Coll Cardiol. Published 20 February 2024. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2023.12.010
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it