Factors impacting bowel symptoms in a contemporary spinal cord injury cohort: results from the Neurogenic Bladder Research Group Registry

Study design: Cross sectional. Objectives: To identify variables associated with severe bowel symptoms in spinal cord injured people. Setting: National cohort. Methods: Adult spinal cord injured (SCI) people were recruited for an online registry and 1373 were included for analysis. Univariate analysis and logistic regression was used to evaluate associations between severity of bowel symptoms and variables. Bowel symptoms were assessed by the Neurogenic Bowel Dysfunction (NBD) score and patients scoring ≥14 were categorized as having severe bowel symptoms. Autonomic dysreflexia (AD) severity was measured using a six item questionnaire and reported as total AD score (0–24). Bladder management was categorized as: voiding, clean intermittent catheterization (CIC), surgery (augmentation/diversion) or indwelling catheter. Results: Severe bowel symptoms were reported in 570 (42%) On multivariable logistic regression, every point increase of AD total score was associated with 5% increased odds of having more severe bowel symptoms [OR 1.05 95% CI 1.03–1.10]. Type of bladder management was also associated with more severe symptoms (p = 0.0001). SCI people with indwelling catheters (OR = 2.16, 95% CI 1.40–3.32) or reconstructive surgery (OR = 1.79, 95% CI 1.08–3.32) were almost twice as likely to report more severe bowel symptoms than those performing CIC.