THURSDAY, Feb. 12, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Factors such as ambulatory and feeding ability and bowel/bladder continence affect life expectancy in people with open spina bifida, according to a study published online Feb. 11 in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology.
Robert M. Shavelle, Ph.D., from the Life Expectancy Project in San Francisco, California, and colleagues estimated life expectancy for individuals with open spina bifida in a study using extensive data from 1,659 persons in California from 1986 to 2019. Empirical mortality rates were calculated and rates were also derived from various cohorts; life expectancies were obtained following construction of life tables.
The researchers observed significant variation in survival by ambulatory and feeding ability and by bowel/bladder continence. At age 5 years, the life expectancy was 27 and 65 additional years for men in the most severely impaired and least severely impaired groups, respectively, compared with 70 years in the general population. A modest secular trend was observed, with mortality decreasing by about 1 percent per year; life expectancy calculations accounted for this trend.
"We confirmed that survival in spina bifida depends critically on the severity of impairment, especially motor function, feeding ability, and continence," the authors write.