Objective: To summarize a 25-year history of the Model Spinal Cord Injury Program and the coexistent National Spinal Cord Injury Database and provide the status of the Database with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses.
Design: Inception cohort.
Setting: Model spinal cord injury systems throughout the United States.
Results: As of September 1998, the National Spinal Cord Injury Database included abbreviated registry records on 6,085 new patients, more complete initial injury and hospitalization records on 18,969 new patients, and 78,627 annual follow up records on those persons. Although stability and continuity of the Database has been a priority since it was started, some changes were needed to meet the changes in health care, health care policy, and new technology.
Conclusion: This large database can now provide a wealth of information about short- and long-term outcomes, provide data on which future health care policies can be evaluated, and act as a source for answers to future research questions.