Study design Retrospective cohort. Objectives The primary outcome of the study was to identify patient characteristics associated with a positive COVID-19 test. The secondary outcome was to identify patient characteristics associated with mortality from COVID-19. Setting Veterans Health Administration (VHA) National Spinal Cord Injury and Disorders (SCI) Registry, created by the National Spinal Cord Injury and Disorders SCI Program Office in March 2020. Methods Data was analyzed in the form of descriptive statistics and then subsequent regression analysis was performed. Results A total of 4,562 persons with SCI were tested for COVID-19 between March and July 2020, and 290 were positive. The study found that African Americans had increased odds of testing positive for COVID-19 (OR 1.53 (1.18–2.00), p < 0.01). Increased age correlated with increased odds of mortality after testing positive for COVID-19 (1.046 (1.003–1.090)). Non-smokers had lower odds of mortality following positive COVID-19 test (0.15 (0.04–0.52)). No association was found between neurologic level of injury (NLI) and positive COVID-19 test or increased mortality. Increased Body Mass Index (BMI) did correlate with positive COVID-19 test but not increased mortality. The case fatality rate for persons with SCI and a positive test for COVID-19 was 12%. Conclusions It is important to define the risk factors for patients with SCI to elucidate and mitigate individual and population risks. These risk factors also can play a role in determining the allocation of critical healthcare resources.

Background The belief that intermittent catheterization results in fewer infections than indwelling catheters is commonly expressed in the spinal cord injury literature. Some practice guidelines strongly recommend intermittent over indwelling catheterization due to concerns about infections and other complications. However, studies on this topic are of low quality. Guidelines from the Consortium for Spinal Cord Medicine suggest the data regarding infection risk are mixed, and they do not recommend one bladder management method over the other. Objectives To compare risk of bias in studies reporting higher rates of urinary tract infection (UTI) with indwelling catheters to studies that found equal rates of UTI between indwelling and intermittent catheterization, and to describe implications in clinical decision-making. Methods A systematic search of PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and SCOPUS databases from January 1, 1980, to September 15, 2020, was conducted. Eligible studies compared symptomatic UTI rates between indwelling and intermittent catheterization. We used a risk of bias assessment tool to evaluate each study. Results Twenty-four studies were identified. Only three of these reported significantly higher UTI risk with indwelling catheters, and all three demonstrated a critical risk of bias. More than half of the studies reported differences in UTI risk of less than 20% between the two methods. Studies with larger (nonsignificant) differences favoring intermittent catheterization were more susceptible to bias from confounding. Conclusion The hypothesis that indwelling catheters cause more UTIs than intermittent catheterization is not supported by the scientific literature. Most studies failed to demonstrate a significant difference in UTI risk, and studies with nonsignificant trends favoring intermittent catheterization were more susceptible to bias from confounding. Perceived risk of infection should not influence a patient’s choice of catheter type.