Dietary and serum lipids in individuals with spinal cord injury living in the community.

A cross-sectional study of 189 community-dwelling persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) (a) assessed levels of dietary and serum lipids, (b) determined the proportion of persons whose levels were out of the recommended/desired range, and (c) identified predictors of dietary and serum lipids. Lipid levels were out of range for a substantial proportion of the sample. Older persons were likely to have higher serum cholesterol and higher triglyceride levels than younger persons. Men tended to have higher intake of dietary cholesterol and lower levels of HDL than women. Caucasians and Hispanic-Americans tended to have higher triglycerides than African-Americans. Persons who had lived with SCI less time tended to have higher saturated fat intake and higher triglycerides than those who had lived with it longer. Greater saturated fat intake was associated with higher serum cholesterol after controlling for age. Studies are needed that test the effectiveness of various interventions on controlling dietary and serum lipids for persons with SCI.

Lipid profiles in spinal cord injury.

Measurement of blood levels of total cholesterol and lipoproteins (HDL and LDL) were conducted on 96 men with spinal cord injury, 46 paraplegics and 50 quadriplegics. All these patients were studied in the stabilized phase of the disease as a follow up to the rehabilitation process. The study was designed to compare results with a normal, able bodied population and to investigate if any abnormal finding could be related to the age at onset of the spinal cord injury, the duration of the disease or the level of the lesion. Compared to the normal, able bodied population, this study indicates that patients with a spinal cord injury do not have higher levels of cholesterol or LDL, nor lower levels of HDL. Levels of total cholesterol increase with aging, as in the normal population, but have no relation to the duration of the disease or the level of the lesion. Blood levels of HDL and LDL do not seem to be related either to the duration of the disease or to the level of the lesion.

Coronary risk in spinal cord injury: assessment following a multivariate approach.

A group of 96 men with spinal cord injury was studied to find out if patients with spinal cord injury were at an increased risk of coronary heart disease. A multivariate approach based on data produced by the Framingham study was used to estimate the probability of developing coronary artery disease within six years. Data obtained from the 96 patients were compared with data obtained from 96 nontrained, able-bodied men matched according to age. The results of this study suggest that patients with spinal cord injury show a risk of coronary artery disease similar to that estimated in non-trained, age-matched, able-bodied individuals. The risk increases with age, but it is of the same order as that found in the normal population and does not appear to be related to the duration of the disease. The results are inconclusive in regard to the level of the lesion as an independent factor of risk.

Energy requirements of gamefield exercises designed for wheelchair-bound persons.

This report presents energy requirements of three athletic exercises (power ramp, climber, and chin-ups) in a free-wheeling gamefield developed by the City of Houston for wheelchair-bound persons. Heart rate was monitored by telemetry. Expired gas samples were collected in Douglas bags. Oxygen and CO2 concentrations were determined by mass spectrometry and expired gas volumes by a wet gas meter. Pulmonary ventilation, O2 consumption, and CO2 production were calculated from expired gas samples. Laboratory studies were conducted on eight men with paraplegia and ten untrained, healthy, able-bodied men. The same persons were tested on the gamefield while propelling a wheelchair over the power ramp, the climber, and doing chin-ups. Age and weight were 32 +/- 4yrs vs 31 +/- 6yrs and 79.6kg vs 79.0kg, respectively, for paraplegic and healthy men. Paraplegic men had average heart rates of 133 +/- 11bpm, 133 +/- 19bpm, and 135 +/- 21bpm, respectively, for the power ramp, climber, and chin-ups. Heart rate values for able-bodied men were 136 +/- 26bpm, 139 +/- 24bpm, and 136 +/- 26bpm, respectively, for the same three exercises. The paraplegic men's VO2 measurements were 13.2 +/- 2.2, 11.5 +/- 2.8, and 6.4 +/- 2.9ml/min/kg, respectively, for the power ramp, climber, and chin-ups. The able-bodied men's VO2 measurements were 15.8 +/- 2.8, 15.4 +/- 3.6, and 9.2 +/- 2.8 ml/min/kg for the same exercises. Patients with paraplegia seemed to outperform able-bodied men in all events. Gamefield exercises appeared to tax the cardiorespiratory system at a level comparable to that usually prescribed for training purposes.