Introduction: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most debilitating conditions, resulting in lifelong functional limitations and disruption of physical, psychological, and social well-being. Globally, an estimated 250,000–500,000 individuals sustain an SCI annually. Despite advances in acute care, quality of life (QoL) remains substantially impaired, highlighting the importance of rehabilitation.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 113 patients with SCI, comprising 51 patients admitted to a Spinal Cord Injury Centre (SCIC) and 62 rehabilitated patients residing in a designated rehabilitation centre. Quality of life was assessed using the pre-validated WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire, which evaluates four domains: physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment. Responses were recorded using a 5-point Likert scale.

Results: The mean age of patients in the SCIC and rehabilitation centre was 31.43 ± 8.05 and 46.37 ± 11.42 years, respectively. Road traffic accidents were the leading cause of SCI (50%), followed by occupational hazards (20%), sports related injuries (15%), falls (10%), and non-traumatic causes (5%). Rehabilitated patients demonstrated significantly higher QoL scores in the psychological (69.45 ± 15.08 vs. 54.18 ± 15.70) and environmental (87.21 ± 10.99 vs. 81.35 ± 12.93) domains than patients admitted to the SCIC (p < 0.05). Differences in the physical health and social relationship domains were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: Patients undergoing rehabilitation demonstrated significantly better quality of life, particularly in the psychological and environmental domains, than those receiving acute inpatient care. These findings suggest that multidisciplinary rehabilitation is associated with better quality of life among individuals with spinal cord injury.

KEYWORDS: Quality of Life (QoL), Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), Rehabilitation, WHOQOL-BREF.