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

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.