Traumatic spinal cord injury causes profound changes in blood pressure, pulse rate and cardiac rhythm. Because the cardiovascular system is highly dependent on autonomic influences, acute spinal cord trauma might interfere with the complex mechanisms involved in cardiovascular homeostasis. These abnormalities has been generally attributed to autonomic instability. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the acute aspects of autonomic dysfunction in humans.

Therefore, this study was performed retrospectively on 62 patients with acute spinal cord injuries to evaluate incidence, time course and severity for cardiovascular instability. In this study, the incidence of persistent bradycardia and hypotension in the cervical injury group was significantly higher than that of the thoracolumbar injury group. These signs occurred earlier in the cervical group than the thoracolumbar group and also lasted longer in the cervical group. This study suggests that there is a direct correlation between the level of spinal cord injury and the incidence of cardiovascular problems.