Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Community Survey

The SwiSCI community survey included Swiss residents with a traumatic or non-traumatic SCI aged over 16 years. Exclusion criteria were congenital conditions leading to SCI, new SCI in the context of palliative care, neurodegenerative disorders, and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Given the lack of a central registry covering all persons with SCI in Switzerland, the SwiSCI population was recruited through the national association for persons with SCI (Swiss Paraplegic Association), three specialized SCI-rehabilitation centers, and a SCI-specific home care institution [33 (link)]. Of 3144 eligible persons, 1549 completed the first two questionnaires relevant for this study (cumulative response rate 49.3%). We found minimal response bias in relation to key characteristics such as gender, age and lesion severity, indicating that the SwiSCI sample good representation of the sampling frame [34 (link)]. The sample of the present study was restricted to 1198 persons in employable age. The lower age limit of 16 years was defined by the inclusion criteria of the study and the fact that many adolescents start an apprenticeship at the age of 16, which is to be considered as first paid employment. The upper age limit was defined by the legal age of employment in Switzerland (< 65 for men, < 64 for women). We only included men and women in employable age for whom information on mental health and QoL was available (n = 1157). Further details on recruitment outcomes, participation rates, and non-response bias in the SwiSCI community survey 2012 can be found elsewhere [34 (link), 35 (link)].