Based on the linked source; automatically prepared and checked against the original report.
Study design
Researchers conducted a cross-sectional survey of 253 community-dwelling people with spinal cord injury in the Netherlands. Data came from the Dutch arm of the International Spinal Cord Injury Survey, collected in 2018. Participants had a mean age of 58.7 years, and the median time since injury was 10 years. Mobility was assessed with the modified Spinal Cord Independence Measure-Self-Report.
Reported outcome differences
People who walked with walking aids generally did not report better outcomes than manual wheelchair users. Functional independence was the exception, with a statistically significant difference between the groups. Electric wheelchair users reported lower functional independence, more participation problems and more secondary health conditions than manual wheelchair users. The study conclusion identified electric wheelchair users as having the least favourable reported long-term outcomes.
Work participation
Among ambulatory participants, those who walked without aids reported paid work more often than those using walking aids: 62.7% compared with 34.3%. The researchers compared outcomes across mobility levels using generalised linear models. The supplied record describes the study as an abstract summary rather than a review of the full paper, and reports associations from the survey rather than treatment guidance or recommendations.
