What can decrease quality of life for people with SCI?

Author: Kelsey Zhao | Reviewer: Rachel Abel | Published: 26 February 2025 | Updated: ~

Having an SCI usually comes with additional health complications over one’s lifetime. These conditions can be directly or indirectly related to the SCI and could include:

• pain,
• urinary tract infections (UTIs),
• pressure ulcers,
• fatigue,
• problematic spasticity,
• bowel problems like constipation, hemorrhoids, etc.,
• bladder problems like leaking, kidney/bladder stones, etc.,
• and mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

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The more health complications disrupt regular life, the greater the impact on QoL. For example, more frequent UTIs are associated with lower QoL as they limit daily activities and increase experiences of spasticity. How much pain interferes with life is also related to QoL. One study found that over a 2-year period, if pain interfered less with life over time, QoL increased, and vice versa. Pain also contributes to higher rates of mental health conditions for people with SCI, which are commonly associated with lower QoL.

Further, the more health conditions one experiences at once, the more QoL decreases. There is some evidence that when there are no health complications, the average QoL for people with SCI is similar to the average QoL of non-SCI populations.