Sex Hormone Deficiency May Up Risk for Rotator Cuff Repair

THURSDAY, April 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Sex hormone deficiency is associated with an increased incidence of rotator cuff repair (RCR), according to a study published online April 12 in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.

Karch M. Smith, from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of insured individuals from the Truven Health MarketScan database to examine the association between sex hormone deficiency and RCR. Data were collected for RCR cases and controls matched for age, sex, and years in the database. The associations were confirmed using data from the Veterans Genealogy Project database.

The researchers found that female patients with estrogen deficiency had significantly higher odds of RCR than those without estrogen deficiency (odds ratio, 1.48). Men with testosterone deficiency also had significantly higher odds of RCR than those without testosterone deficiency (odds ratio, 1.89). The relative risks of estrogen deficiency and testosterone deficiency among RCR patients within the Veterans Genealogy Project database were 2.58 and 3.05, respectively.

"As hypothesized, sex hormone deficiency was associated with a significantly increased incidence of RCR within 2 independent databases," the authors write. "These results further support the hypothesis that rotator cuff disease is partially secondary to circulating systemic factors."

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