Georgia Injury Law Blog
Persons who have suffered a spinal injury in car accidents or motorcycle accidents are at a much higher risk of suffering heart disease down the line.
That information comes from a study conducted in Korea where researchers analyzed data on more than 5,000 patients who had suffered lumbar, cervical or thoracic spinal injury. They were looking at how many of these spinal injury survivors developed heart conditions including myocardial infarction, heart failure and atrial fibrillation. They found that persons who had suffered lumbar and cervical spinal injury had a greater risk of myocardial infarctions and heart failure. The rates were slightly higher among those persons who had suffered severe disability as a result of their spinal injury.
The researchers believe that one of the reasons for this is the fact that spinal injury survivors have very limited mobility and ability to exercise. This causes the heart muscles to become weak due to the lack of exercise. The researchers also believe that it is important for doctors treating a person with spinal injury to factor in the increased risk of cardiac disease, including myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation and heart failure. It is important for spinal cord injury survivors and their families and caretakers to understand the higher risk of these specific heart conditions as a result of the injury. More education and awareness is needed, and greater efforts must be put into patient counselling.