Quality of life of persons with traumatic spinal cord injury in rural Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: a community survey

Aim: To describe the quality of life of persons with traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) in a rural area of a low-income country. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study in which snowballing was used to identify persons with TSCI in their homes. A Kiswahili version of the short version of the World Health Organization quality of life questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed descriptively and independent samples t-tests were used to calculate the difference in the mean scores between groups. Results: Eighty persons with TSCI with a mean age of 42.29 +/- 11.4 years were identified, 68.8% of whom were males. The highest scoring domains were psychological (12.76 +/- 2.55) and social relationships (12.62 +/- 2.95). The lowest scores were for physical (11.48 +/- 2.74) and environment (9.59 +/- 2.68) domains. Significantly higher scores were associated with younger age in: physical (0.05), social relationships (0.01), and environment (0.02) domains (p value < 0.05). Conclusions: Persons with TSCI in the Kilimanjaro rural area registered a relatively low quality of life in which the most affected domains are physical health and environment.