A Silver Lining of Neuropathic Pain: Predicting Favorable Functional Outcome in Spinal Cord Injury

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a common and severe problem following spinal cord injury (SCI). However, its relationship with functional outcome remains unclear. A retrospective explorative analysis was performed on SCI patients admitted to a tertiary academic medical center between January 2018 and June 2022. The candidate predictor variables, including demographics, clinical characteristics and complications, were analyzed with logistic and linear regression. Spinal Cord Independence Measure (SCIM) scores at discharge and mean relative functional gain (mRFG) of SCIM were as outcome parameters. A total of 140 SCI patients included for the final analysis. Among them, 44 (31.43%) patients were tetraplegics, and 96 (68.57%) patients were paraplegics; 68 (48.57%) patients developed NP, and 72 (51.43%) patients did not. Logistic and linear regression analyses of SCIM at discharge both showed that NP [OR=3.10, 95% CI (1.29,7.45), =0.01; unstandardized β=11.47, 95% CI (4.95,17.99),