ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo investigate the neurological outcome of children with dance-associated spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormality (SCIWORA) and explore its related factors and predictive model. MethodsFrom July, 2012 to January, 2022, 75 children with dance-associated SCIWORA hospitalized in Beijing Bo'ai Hospital were divided into improved group (n = 14) and non-improved group (n = 61) according to the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grade a year later, and the related factors were analyzed. ResultsAll patients were girls aged four to ten years. Most of them were complete spinal cord injuries (52/75, 69%). The time of injury to rehabilitation (OR = 0.926, P = 0.046, 95%CI 0.858 to 0.999), the existing tendon reflex (OR = 46.915，P = 0.012, 95%CI 2.333 to 943.616) and muscle tension (OR = 8.932，P = 0.044，95%CI 1.063~75.067) were correlated with the AIS grade improvement. The combination of time of injury to rehabilitation, tendon reflex and muscle tone existing may predict the improvement of AIS (AUC = 0.953, P < 0.001，95%CI 0.878 to 0.989), the sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 83.61%, respectively. ConclusionThe neurological outcome of children with dance-associated SCIWORA is poor. Rehabilitation training as soon as possible is beneficial to the neurological recovery. Tendon reflexe and muscle tone existing at admission are closely related to improvement of neurological outcome, which could be used as potential indicators.