Hypo-High-Density Lipoproteinemia Is Associated With Preoperative Tear Size and With Postoperative Retear in Large to Massive Rotator Cuff Tears.

Purpose: To evaluate any association of specific subtypes of dyslipidemia with increments of preoperative tear size and with structural integrity after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair (ARCR).
Methods: One surgeon's consecutive patients who underwent ARCR from January 2011 to June 2018 were reviewed. The inclusion criteria were minimum 1-year follow-up ultrasonography, blood tests, physical examination, and provision of informed consent. The exclusion criteria were incomplete laboratory tests, history of acute trauma, previous shoulder surgery, isolated subscapularis tendon tear, inappropriate radiographs, no 1-year follow-up ultrasonography, and medication with lipid-lowering drugs. Associated preoperative factors for the increments of tear size and for retear after ARCR were determined using logistic regression analysis. Statistical significance was set at P < .05.
Results: Of the 502 ARCR patients from the study period, 195 patients (195 shoulders), with a mean age of 60.5 ± 7.5 years, met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Age (odds ratio [OR], 1.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-1.3), diabetes (OR, 3.6; 95% CI, 1.7-7.5), and hypo-high-density lipoproteinemia (hypo-HDLemia) (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.5-5.6) were significantly associated with increments of preoperative tear size (P ≤ .01). Diabetes (OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.3-6.6), critical shoulder angle (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.4-3.0), and tear size (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.3-3.4) were significantly associated with retear after ARCR in overall study subjects (P = .01). Diabetes (OR, 3.8; 95% CI, 1.3-11.4), hypo-HDLemia (OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.1-8.8), and critical shoulder angle (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1-2.3) had significant associations with retear after ARCR in patients with a large to massive preoperative tear size (P ≤ .04).
Conclusions: Preoperative hypo-HDLemia (high-density lipoprotein level < 40 mg/dL in male patients and < 50 mg/dL in female patients) has a significant association with the increments of preoperative tear size and with retear after ARCR in large- to massive-sized rotator cuff tears.
Level of Evidence: Level IV, case series.
(Copyright © 2020 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)