Study design: A 6-month follow-up study. Objectives: To investigate the outcome of transanal irrigation (TAI) in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and to identify factors significantly related to clinical success. Setting: Survey for community-dwelling patients with SCI in South Korea. Methods: Between December 2010 and March 2012, TAI was initiated with 52 patients (41 men; age: 44.5 ± 11.0 years) with neurogenic bowel dysfunction (NBD). At 1, 3 and 6 months after initiation, a telephone interview was conducted. Data were collected on patient-specific bowel management and TAI performance as a new procedure. Results: Only 18 patients (34%) used TAI for at least 6 months, which was a lower compliance rate than similar studies in some European countries. Relative to the compliant group, the noncompliant group contained a higher proportion of tetraplegia than paraplegia (P ¼ 0.031), and a higher proportion dependent on physical help (P ¼ 0.034). In all, 33 of the 52 patients (63.5%) complained of practical problems with the TAI procedure such as expulsion of the rectal catheter. Fifteen patients (28.8%) presented with adverse effects. The incidence of practical problems or adverse effects did not alter the frequency of patient-reported successful outcome. Conclusion: Korean participants showed a relatively lower compliance rate with TAI. We conclude that TAI, combined with adequate patient instruction and physical assistance, has potential as a management tool for NBD in Korea.

Study design: Cross-sectional survey. Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempt in Korean persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) and the factors related with suicidal ideation in comparison with a control group (CG). Settings: Community-dwelling persons with chronic SCI in Korea. Methods: A total of 382 persons with chronic SCI and 1104 able-bodied persons randomly selected from the general population and matched for age, sex and education level were compared. Suicidal ideation and attempt were recorded positive if the subjects had that experience during the past year. Psychosocial variables and injury-related factors were also evaluated. Results: Suicidal ideation was found in 34.8% (127/365) of SCI persons and 10.4% (115/1104) in the CG (Po0.001). The rate of suicidal attempt among those with suicidal ideation was 17.3% (22/127) in SCI and 8.7% (10/115) in CG (P ¼ 0.048). Multiple logistic regression revealed that SCI itself (odds ratio (OR) 2.865) was a significant risk factor of suicidal ideation. However, completeness of injury and injury level were not significantly associated with suicidal ideation. Depressive mood (OR 11.194 Kishi et al. 4 found that 7.3% of patients with acute medical illness and 11.7% of acute SCI persons had clinically significant suicidal ideation and that suicidal ideation occurred mostly among patients with depressive mood.Psychosocial adjustment difficulties are known to be closely related to suicide in the SCI population. Hartkopp et al. 3 reported that suicide rate in their group of marginally disabled persons with SCI was nearly twice as high as those with functionally complete tetraplegia. This suggests that psychosocial adjustment is related to degree of physical impairment.The prevalence of suicidality and related factors can differ according to specific racial or cultural groups. For example, suicide is an urgent health issue in Korea with the rate of suicide increasing rapidly. 5 However, data regarding suicidality of SCI persons in nonwestern cultures are still lacking.This study was conducted to reveal the prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempt in community-dwelling SCI persons in Korea.

Objectives: To provide a Korean translation of the International Spinal Cord Injury Basic Pain Data Set (ISCIBPDS) and evaluate the interrater reliability of the translated version. Setting: Survey of community-dwelling people with spinal cord injury (SCI) in South Korea. Methods: The initial translation was performed by two translators with an in-depth knowledge of SCI, and was then checked by another person with a similar background. A total of 115 SCI participants (87 men, 28 women; 48.4 ± 14.1 years) were evaluated using the Korean version of the ISCIBPDS by two different raters. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) or Cohen's kappa (k) was used for analysis. Results: All 115 participants had at least one pain problem on both surveys. Seventeen (14.8%) participants described their pain as a single pain problem to one rater while reporting the same pain as two or more different pain problems to the other rater. Twenty-two (19.1%) other participants reported their pain problems in a different order of severity on the surveys. The Korean version of the ISCIBPDS had acceptable interrater reliability, except in the 'limit activities (how much do you limit your activities in order to keep your pain from getting worse?)' item (ICC ¼ 0.318). Conclusion: Provision of criteria for pain separation may facilitate the consistent application of ISCIBPDS. In addition, the ISCIBPDS, which evaluated pain problems separately, reflected the multiple and complex characteristics of SCI-related pain; this was a strength of this data set.