The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American). 2008;90:2105-2113.
doi:10.2106/JBJS.F.00260
© 2008 The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc.
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Patients with Workers' Compensation Claims Have Worse Outcomes After Rotator Cuff Repair

R. Frank Henn, III, MD1, Lana Kang, MD1, Robert Z. Tashjian, MD2 and Andrew Green, MD3

1 Hospital for Special Surgery, 535 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021. E-mail address for R.F. Henn: Frank_Henn{at}yahoo.com
2 University of Utah Orthopaedic Center, 590 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108
3 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Brown Medical School, Rhode Island Hospital, 2 Dudley Street, Suite 200, Providence, RI 02905
Investigation performed at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island

Disclosure: The authors did not receive any outside funding or grants in support of their research for or preparation of this work. Neither they nor a member of their immediate families received payments or other benefits or a commitment or agreement to provide such benefits from a commercial entity. No commercial entity paid or directed, or agreed to pay or direct, any benefits to any research fund, foundation, division, center, clinical practice, or other charitable or nonprofit organization with which the authors, or a member of their immediate families, are affiliated or associated.

A commentary is available with the electronic versions of this article, on our web site (www.jbjs.org) and on our quarterly CD-ROM/DVD (call our subscription department, at 781-449-9780, to order the CD-ROM or DVD).

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated varying correlations between Workers' Compensation status and the outcome of rotator cuff repair. However, none of those studies have formally accounted for potential confounding factors with multivariable analysis. We hypothesized that patients with Workers' Compensation claims who undergo rotator cuff repair have worse outcomes, even after controlling for confounding factors.

Methods: One hundred and twenty-five patients (including thirty-nine with Workers' Compensation claims) who underwent unilateral primary repair of a chronic rotator cuff tear by a single surgeon were studied prospectively and were evaluated one year postoperatively, prior to the settlement of any claims. Outcomes were assessed with the Simple Shoulder Test (SST); the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) index; three visual analog scales (shoulder pain, shoulder function, and quality of life); and the Short Form-36 (SF-36).

Results: Patients in the Workers' Compensation group were significantly younger, had greater work demands, and had lower marital rates, education levels, and preoperative expectations for the outcome of treatment as compared with those in the non-Workers' Compensation group (p = 0.001 to 0.016). Preoperatively, patients in the Workers' Compensation group had significantly lower scores on the SST, the SF-36 Physical Function scale, and the SF-36 Social Function scale (p = 0.01 to 0.038). One year postoperatively, those patients reported worse performance on the SST, the DASH, all three visual analog scales, and the SF-36 (p = 0.0007 to 0.05) and had worse improvement on the DASH, the visual analog scales for shoulder pain and function, and the SF-36 Bodily Pain and Role Emotional scales (p = 0.0028 to 0.038). Multivariable analysis controlling for age, sex, comorbidities, smoking, marital status, education, duration of symptoms, work demands, expectations, and tear size confirmed that Workers' Compensation status was an independent predictor of worse DASH scores.

Conclusions: Patients with Workers' Compensation claims report worse outcomes, even after controlling for confounding factors. The present study provides further evidence that the existence of a Workers' Compensation claim portends a less robust outcome following rotator cuff repair.

Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level I. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


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