Predicting rehabilitation length of stay in Canada: It's not just about impairment.

Introduction: Current tertiary Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) rehabilitation funding and rehabilitation length of stay (R-LOS) in most North American jurisdictions are linked to an individual's impairment. Our objectives were to: 1) describe the impact of relevant demographic, impairment and medical complexity variables at rehabilitation admission on R-LOS among adult Canadians with traumatic SCI; and 2) identify factors which extend R-LOS.

Methods: Data from 1,376 adults with traumatic SCI were obtained via chart abstraction and administrative data linkage from 15 Rick Hansen SCI Registry sites (2004-2014).