Blood pressure levels and clinically meaningful changes during inpatient rehabilitation after spinal cord injury: insights from the Dutch Spinal Cord Injury Database

van Oort, MJ, van Nes, IJW, Hopman, MTE, Thijssen, DHJ ORCID: 0000-0002-7707-5567, van Diemen, T and Langerak, NG (2026) Blood pressure levels and clinically meaningful changes during inpatient rehabilitation after spinal cord injury: insights from the Dutch Spinal Cord Injury Database. Disability and Rehabilitation. ISSN 0963-8288

Preview

Text Blood pressure levels and clinically meaningful changes during inpatient rehabilitation after spinal cord injury insights from the Dutch Spinal Cord .pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Purpose: To examine in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI): associations of blood pressure (BP) with demographic, injury, and medication characteristics at admission; changes in BP and heart rate (HR) between admission and discharge; and determinants of clinically meaningful BP changes during inpatient rehabilitation. Methods: This retrospective cohort study used data from 1286 individuals with SCI admitted for inpatient rehabilitation. Resting systolic and diastolic BP (SBP, DBP), and HR were measured at admission and discharge. Results: Most participants were male (63%, mean age of 58 years (SD 16)), and high-level (≥T6; 62%) motor incomplete (80%) SCI. At admission, higher SBP and DBP were associated with higher body mass index, lower neurological lesion level, and motor incomplete SCI; SBP with older age and anti-hypertensive medication use; and DBP with male sex. Between admission and discharge, mean BP and HR did not change, while hypertension and hypotension prevalence decreased. Older age (OR 1.02) and cardiovascular-related medication use (OR 1.97) were associated with clinically meaningful SBP increase, while anti-hypertensive medication use (OR 1.71) was associated with SBP decrease. Conclusions: Despite unchanged mean BP in individuals with SCI during inpatient rehabilitation, BP levels at admission and changes were associated with demographic, injury, and medication-related factors.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Blood pressure; cardiovascular diseases; heart disease risk factors; hypertension; hypotension; rehabilitation; spinal cord injuries; Blood pressure; cardiovascular diseases; heart disease risk factors; hypertension; hypotension; rehabilitation; spinal cord injuries; 4201 Allied Health and Rehabilitation Science; 32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences; 3202 Clinical Sciences; 42 Health Sciences; Neurodegenerative; Physical Injury - Accidents and Adverse Effects; Neurosciences; Spinal Cord Injury; Traumatic Head and Spine Injury; Aging; Rehabilitation; Clinical Research; Cardiovascular; Physical Rehabilitation; Hypertension; Cardiovascular; 11 Medical and Health Sciences; Rehabilitation; 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences; 42 Health sciences; 44 Human society
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC1200 Sports Medicine
Divisions:	Sport and Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis
Date of acceptance:	18 June 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	10 August 2026
Date Deposited:	10 Aug 2026 14:34
Last Modified:	10 Aug 2026 14:34
DOI or ID number:	10.1080/09638288.2026.2693411
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29138

View Item