Skip to main content

Master of Public Health

Psychosocial Factors Play a Greater Role in Preoperative Symptoms for Patients with Atraumatic Shoulder Instability: Data from the MOON-Shoulder Instability Group

AUTHORS

Nichols MS , Jacobs CA , Lemaster NG , Magnuson JA , Mair SD , Ortiz SF , Hettrich CM , , Baumgarten KM , Bishop JY , Bollier MJ , Bravman JT , Brophy RH , Carpenter JE , Cox CL , Cvetanovich GL , Feeley BT , Frank RM , Grant JA , Jones GL , Kuhn JE , Lansdown DA , Ma CB , Marx RG , McCarty EC , Miller BS , Neviaser AS , Seidl AJ , Smith MV , Wolf BR , Wright RW , Zhang AL , . Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery. 2022 9 27; ().

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have demonstrated that psychosocial factors and comorbid depression are associated with worse preoperative baseline measures, clinical outcomes, and recovery in patients undergoing shoulder surgery. It is unknown whether this potential link would differ between those with traumatic vs. atraumatic shoulder instability, as symptoms may persist longer in atraumatic instability prior to surgical intervention. The purpose of this study was to determine if psychosocial factors and/or comorbid depression more heavily influence preoperative symptoms for patients with traumatic vs. atraumatic shoulder instability.

METHODS: Prospective baseline data from 1552 patients in the Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network (MOON) Shoulder Instability cohort were analyzed based on mechanism of injury while controlling for age, sex, and direction of instability. Multivariable linear regressions were performed to determine whether psychological factors (RAND 36 Mental Component Score (MCS), Depression Diagnosis, PAS-22) were predictive of preoperative American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) and Western Ontario Shoulder Instability Index (WOSI) scores in the atraumatic group. The same model was repeated for the traumatic instability group, and the model fit was compared between groups with p < 0.05 considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: Female sex and lower MCS were significantly associated with worse preoperative ASES and WOSI scores for the group with atraumatic instability (ASES r=0.15, p<0.001; WOSI r=0.17, p<0.001). The same model performed significantly worse (p<0.05) for both ASES and WOSI scores in the group with traumatic instability (ASES r=0.07, WOSI r=0.08).

CONCLUSIONS: Worse preoperative psychosocial factors were found to be more strongly associated with shoulder-related pain and function for patients with atraumatic instability. Across multiple orthopedic conditions, depression and emotional wellbeing have been associated with worse preoperative symptoms and inferior postoperative patient-reported outcomes. Despite the stronger and significant association in atraumatic patients, worse psychosocial factors did not have as large of an impact as has been seen in other more chronic conditions such as osteoarthritis or rotator cuff tears. In addition to medically optimizing patients prior to surgery, the current findings identify a subset of shoulder instability patients that may benefit from a behavioral health intervention either prior to surgery or early in the postoperative period to potentially improve postoperative outcomes.

Tags: