Mary Jo Roach, PhD
As part of the SCI Model System grant, MetroHealth led a research project looking at blood alcohol levels at the time of a traumatic spinal cord injury and functional outcomes. The project was a collaboration with four Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems; Harvard University, University of Pittsburg, The Ohio State University and University of Houston. Each center obtained information from their hospital trauma departments, which included percent of alcohol in patients’ blood when admitted to the hospital emergency department.
A total of 210 traumatic spinal cord injury patients were identified. The average age of the patient was 47 years old and 73% were male. The study found that higher levels of alcohol in the blood at the time of injury was associated with an increase in motor gain during acute rehabilitation. The study results suggest that alcohol may have some protective properties at the time of injury; however, more studies are needed to confirm what this small study found and to understand what it is about alcohol that may be protective.
