Development and validation of a patient-reported checklist for dermatological complications in chronic spinal cord injury

This study aimed to develop and conduct initial validation of a comprehensive, patient-reported checklist for identifying dermatological complications in individuals with chronic SCI. Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center, Sina Hospital, Tehran, Iran. A multiphase, cross-sectional methodological study was conducted.

The items were generated via a literature review and expert opinion, followed by content validation with a panel of 11 specialists via the content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI). After face validation with patient representatives, the final checklist was field-tested in structured interviews with individuals from a national SCI registry. Interrater reliability was assessed with Cohen’s kappa.

The final 16-item checklist demonstrated excellent content validity, with all the items meeting CVR thresholds and achieving high scale-level CVI scores (relevance=0.88, simplicity=0.92, clarity=0.89). Interrater reliability was excellent Cohen’s kappa = 0.89). The tool was administered to 139 individuals with chronic SCI (mean age 43.9 years; 76.8% male), 44.6% (n = 62) of whom reported at least one complication.

Among the 102 complications identified, those related to fungal infections (25.5%) and early-stage pressure injuries (20.6%) were the most prevalent. The mean onset time for the first complication was 2.7 months’ post-injury. The Spinal Cord Injury Skin Complications Checklist (SCI-SCC) is a valid and reliable patient-reported tool for screening dermatological issues in this population.

Its integration into routine clinical practice can facilitate standardized monitoring, promote early detection, and ultimately improve patient-centered care for individuals living with chronic SCI. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Receive 12 print issues and online access Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to ethical/privacy considerations involving participant-level data, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Skin complications of paraplegia and tetraplegia | DermNet NZ [Internet]. dermnetnz.org.

Available from: https://dermnetnz.org/topics/skin-complications-of-paraplegia-and-tetraplegia. Park JW, Seo CH, Han SH, Lee YG. Sympathetic influence on biomechanical skin properties after spinal cord injury.