Robert L Waters

Study design: Oral glucose tolerance testing was performed prospectively in 201 subjects with spinal cord injury (SCI). The dependent variables included the values from the oral glucose tolerance test (glucose and insulin) and diagnostic classification (i.e., diabetes mellitus, impaired glucose tolerance, normal glucose tolerance); the independent variables consisted of study group, gender, ethnic group, age, age at onset of SCI, duration of injury, and anthropometric measurements. ...

Although vehicular trauma traditionally has accounted for the majority of spinal cord injuries, gunshot wounds are the second most common cause. Furthermore, the proportion of spinal cord injuries caused by gunshot wounds are increasing although the proportion of injuries caused by high-speed vehicular trauma is decreasing. Gunshot wounds to the spine commonly are thought to be stable injuries. There is, however, a potential for instability if the bullet passes transversely through the ...

Subjects with spinal cord injury (SCI) have been shown to have an adverse lipid profile. Prior studies performed with smaller numbers of subjects have not been able to demonstrate any relationship between the level and degree of the neurological deficit and plasma lipid levels. Over a 2 year period we investigated the lipid profiles in 541 subjects from Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center, Downey, California. Subjects were grouped by tetraplegia (Tetra; n=247) or paraplegia (Para; n=294) ...

Prospective motor and sensory examinations were conducted on 135 patients with neurologic deficits caused by spinal cord injuries resulting from gunshot wounds. Annual follow-up motor and sensory examinations were conducted for 67 patients. The neurologic data (motor and sensory neurologic levels of injury, zone of injury, and completeness of lesion) were assessed in terms of the vertebral level of injury, region of injury, bullet caliber, direction of bullet entry, and whether the ...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate risk factors for respiratory morbidity in chronic spinal cord injury (SCI).

SETTING: Model SCI care system based at an urban public rehabilitation medical center.

DESIGN: Case series with evaluation of pulmonary function by conventional spirometric testing.

PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred twenty-two adults with SCI of more than 1-year duration who were not chronically dependent on mechanical ventilation, including 98 with tetraplegia (62 with complete and 26 with ...

To determine the body composition differences across age, 133 men with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) (66 with tetraplegia, 67 with paraplegia) were compared with an age-, height-, and ethnicity-matched able-bodied male reference population (n = 100) using two different dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry densitometers. The effects of duration of injury, level, and completeness of lesion were analyzed in the SCI population. Independent of age, total body and regional lean mass were lower ...

OBJECTIVE: The potential effect of ethnicity on the serum lipid profile and lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] was studied in a population with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI).

STUDY DESIGN: The distribution and correlates of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and Lp(a) were studied in a population of 600 subjects with chronic SCI.

RESULTS: Mean +/- SEM serum HDL cholesterol was significantly higher in the African American group than in the white and Latino groups (47 +/- 1 vs 40 +/- 1 and ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether type of fracture or gunshot injury correlated with extent of motor impairment at 1 month and/or with the amount of motor recovery between 1 month and 1 year.

DESIGN: Prospective neurological examinations were performed longitudinally after the recommendations of the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA). Fractures were classified by the Allen system (cervical spine) or the Denis system (thoracic and lumbar spine). Gunshot injuries were classified based ...

Objective: To determine the expected vital capacity in persons with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) in relation to injury level, completeness of injury, smoking and duration of injury, as an aid to diagnosis and management of respiratory complications.Setting: A New York City veterans' hospital and a Los Angeles public rehabilitation hospital.Methods: Case series from the two hospitals were pooled. Participants (adult outpatients with SCI of duration >1 year, not ventilator-dependent) ...

OBJECTIVES: To determine the differential effects of impairment, disability, etiology, and selected preinjury and social factors on medical complications, medical resources use, and handicap after rehabilitation for spinal cord injury (SCI).

DESIGN: Survey including interview and medical record review.

SETTING: Model SCI Care System centered at an urban, public medical center.

PARTICIPANTS: A volunteer convenience sample of 164 men, ages 18 to 35yrs at injury, with SCI caused by firearms ...

Prospective serial neurological examinations were performed on 445 consecutive traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) patients admitted for rehabilitation on an average of 22.8±15.6 days after injury. Patients were categorized by both the ASIA and Sacral Sparing (SS) definitions of complete SCI, in order to compare the definitions in terms of consistency and prognostic ability. Recovery during follow-up was determined by sensory scores for light touch, sharp/dull discrimination, ...