Associations of preoperative patient mental health status and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics with baseline pain, function, and satisfaction in patients undergoing primary shoulder arthroplasty

Beyond the joint: Exploring the interplay between mental health and shoulder arthroplasty outcomes

Considering the fact that mental health illnesses increase with age, and that shoulder arthroplasty procedures are often indicated in the older population, exploring the relationship between mental health and shoulder arthroplasty outcomes can have pivotal implications for shoulder surgeons and patients worldwide. The literature has shown that patients with poor mental health report lower patient-reported outcomes, higher peri-operative complications (such as anemia, infection, delirium, and others), lengthier hospital stays, and higher readmission rates than the normal patient. Employing a holistic approach when managing shoulder arthroplasty patients is necessary for optimizing outcomes and setting up recovery expectations.

Disease diagnosis and arthroplasty type are strongly associated with short-term postoperative patient-reported outcomes in patients undergoing primary total shoulder arthroplasty

BACKGROUND

Prognostic factors for total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) clinical outcomes are incompletely understood. This study investigates the associations of preoperative patient, disease-specific, and surgical factors with 1-year postoperative PENN Shoulder Score (PSS) in patients undergoing primary TSA.

METHODS

Cleveland Clinic patients undergoing primary anatomic TSA (aTSA) or reverse TSA (rTSA) for glenohumeral osteoarthritis (GHOA) or rotator cuff tear arthropathy (CTA) between February 2015 and August 2019, and having complete preoperative and 1-year postoperative patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), were included. Twenty preselected preoperative patient, disease-specific, and surgical factors were used to fit multivariable models for 1-year PSS and its subscores.

RESULTS

Of 1427 eligible primary TSAs, 1174 had 1-year follow-up by PROMs (82%), with 1042 analyzed after additional exclusions, including 30% rTSAs for CTA (n = 308), 26% rTSAs for GHOA (n = 275), and 44% aTSAs for GHOA (n = 459). All PROMs showed statistically significant improvements postoperatively, with 89% of patients reaching an acceptable symptom state. Lower 1-year PSS was associated with younger age, female sex, current smoking, chronic pain diagnosis, history of prior surgery, worker's compensation claim, lower preoperative mental health, lower baseline PSS, absence of glenoid bone loss, and diagnosis-arthroplasty type (CTA-rTSA < GHOA-rTSA < GHOA-aTSA). The most important prognostic factors associated with 1-year PSS were diagnosis-arthroplasty type, baseline mental health status, and insurance status.

CONCLUSIONS

Disease diagnosis, arthroplasty type, and several other baseline factors are strongly and individually associated with PROMs following primary TSA, with patients undergoing aTSA for GHOA demonstrating the highest PROM scores at 1-year follow-up. Patient, disease-specific, and surgical factors can be used to guide postoperative prognosis following primary TSA for improved preoperative patient counseling regarding expected outcomes of these procedures.

Greater Mental Health Burden is Associated With Poor Postoperative Pain Control and Increased Opioid Utilization Following Total Shoulder Arthroplasty

Background

Prolonged opioid use is associated with higher complications and worse patient-reported outcomes following total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA). Identified risk factors for prolonged postoperative use are related to several medical comorbidities, gender, diagnoses of anxiety or depressive disorders, and preoperative opioid use. In this study, we hypothesized that patient-reported mental health characteristics can help to identify patients at risk of worse postoperative pain control, worse sleep, and higher opioid utilization following TSA.

Methods

Ninety-three consecutive patients were asked to fill out 2 mental health questionnaires prior to undergoing TSA. Following surgery, patients filled out a daily pain diary to track their daily pain, pain medication use, and quality and duration of their sleep for 30 days. Preoperative opioid use and postoperative refill were determined by the New York State Prescription Monitoring Program. Mixed-model linear regressions were conducted. Significance was defined as p < 0.05.

Results

Postoperative opioid refill was associated with female gender, preoperative opioid therapy, higher inpatient opioid use, worse anxiety, depression, somatization, and pain catastrophizing scores. The number of days using opioids postoperatively was associated with worse pain catastrophizing scale (PCS) and somatization scores (patient health questionnaire-15). Preoperative opioid therapy was associated with worse somatization scores, whereas no opioids used after surgery were associated with better somatization scores. Worse sleep quality and duration were associated with worse PCS scores.

Conclusion

A greater mental health burden is associated with worse postoperative pain control and higher opioid utilization during the acute postoperative period. This is especially evident in the pain catastrophizing and somatization domains.

The Effects of Sociodemographic Factors on Baseline Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Patients with Foot and Ankle Conditions

BACKGROUND

Racial and ethnic care disparities persist within orthopaedics in the United States. This study aimed to deepen our understanding of which sociodemographic factors most impact patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) score variation and may explain racial and ethnic disparities in PROM scores.

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed baseline PROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) Global-Physical (PGP) and PROMIS Global-Mental (PGM) scores of 23,171 foot and ankle patients who completed the instrument from 2016 to 2021. A series of regression models was used to evaluate scores by race and ethnicity after adjusting in a stepwise fashion for household income, education level, primary language, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), sex, and age. Full models were utilized to compare independent effects of predictors.

RESULTS

For the PGP and PGM, adjusting for income, education level, and CCI reduced racial disparity by 61% and 54%, respectively, and adjusting for education level, language, and income reduced ethnic disparity by 67% and 65%, respectively. Full models revealed that an education level of high school or less and a severe CCI had the largest negative effects on scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Education level, primary language, income, and CCI explained the majority (but not all) of the racial and ethnic disparities in our cohort. Among the explored factors, education level and CCI were predominant drivers of PROM score variation.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Prognostic Level IV . See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Psychometric properties of the translated Spanish version of the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire

Introduction

Some patients with rotator cuff injuries do not report significant changes in pain-related outcomes. Pain self-efficacy, which is commonly assessed using the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, may contribute toward this outcome. However, a Spanish adaptation of this questionnaire is currently lacking. Therefore, this study's purpose was developing the Spanish version of this questionnaire, and assess its psychometric properties.

Methods

The Spanish version of the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire was translated and culturally adapted, and a sample of 107 patients with rotator cuff injuries completed the questionnaire to examine its convergent validity (analyzing its correlation with the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia), its test-retest reliability, for which a subset of 40 participants completed again the questionnaire, and its internal consistency.

Results

Translation was conducted without any problems, and 107 participants completed the study. Mean scores for the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire were 45.2 points (standard deviation, 11.4). The Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire showed a moderate negative correlation with the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (Pearson's correlation index r = -0.48) supporting its convergent validity. High test-retest reliability (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of 0.90) and excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α value of 0.92) were also found.

Discussion

The Spanish version of the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire presents high validity, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency to assess pain self-efficacy in patients suffering rotator cuff injuries in Spanish-speaking settings.

One-year patient-reported outcomes following primary arthroscopic rotator cuff repair vary little by surgeon

Background

This study's purpose was to investigate the extent to which differences among operating surgeons may influence 1-year patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in patients undergoing rotator cuff repair (RCR) surgery, after controlling for general and disease-specific patient factors. We hypothesized that surgeon would be additionally associated with 1-year PROMs, specifically the baseline to 1-year improvement in Penn Shoulder Score (PSS).

Methods

We used mixed multivariable statistical modeling to assess the influence of surgeon (and alternatively surgical case volume) on 1-year PSS improvement in patients undergoing RCR at a single health system in 2018, controlling for eight patient- and six disease-specific preoperative factors as possible confounders. Contributions of predictors to explaining variation in 1-year PSS improvement were measured and compared using Akaike's Information Criterion.

Results

518 cases performed by 28 surgeons met inclusion criteria, with median (quartiles) baseline PSS of 41.9 (31.9, 53.9) and 1-year PSS improvement of 42 (29.1, 55.3) points. Contrary to expectation, surgeon and surgical case volume were neither statistically significantly nor clinically meaningfully associated with 1-year PSS improvement. Baseline PSS and mental health status (VR-12 MCS) were the dominant and only statistically significant predictors of 1-year PSS improvement, with lower baseline PSS and higher VR-12 MCS predicting larger 1-year PSS improvement.

Conclusion

Patients generally reported excellent 1-year outcomes following primary RCR. This study did not find evidence that the individual surgeon or surgeon case volume influences 1-year PROMs, independently of case-mix factors, following primary RCR in a large employed hospital system.

Understanding Medical Optimization for Patients Undergoing Shoulder Arthroplasty

Many surgeons seek to optimize their patients' comorbid conditions preoperatively to reduce postoperative complications. To effectively optimize patients before total shoulder arthroplasty, the surgeon should be familiar with recognizing and treating common medical comorbidities found in an orthopedic patient including anemia, diabetes, malnutrition, cardiovascular conditions, and history of deep venous thrombosis. Screening for depression or other mental illness should also be conducted preoperatively and managed accordingly before surgery. Preoperative opioid use and smoking have significant effects on postoperative outcomes and should be addressed before surgery.

Heterogeneity of pain-related psychological distress in patients seeking care for shoulder pathology

BACKGROUND

Psychological distress is associated with disability and quality of life for patients with shoulder pain. However, uncertainty around heterogeneity of psychological distress has limited the adoption of shoulder care models that address psychological characteristics. In a cohort of patients with shoulder pain, our study sought to (1) describe the prevalence of various subtypes of psychological distress; (2) evaluate associations between psychological distress and self-reported shoulder pain, disability, and function; and (3) determine differences in psychological distress profiles between patients receiving nonoperative vs. operative treatment.

METHODS

The sample included 277 patients who were evaluated in clinic by a shoulder surgeon and completed the Optimal Screening for Prediction of Referral and Outcome Yellow Flag Assessment Tool (OSPRO-YF) from 2019 to 2021. This tool categorizes maladaptive and adaptive psychological traits, and the number of yellow flags (YFs) ranges from 0 to 11, with higher YF counts indicating higher pain-related psychological distress. Operative and nonoperative cohorts were compared using χ² test and Student t test. Linear regression was used to evaluate the association between pain, disability, and YFs, whereas Poisson regression evaluated the association between operative treatment and psychological distress. K-means cluster analysis was performed to propose potential psychological distress phenotypes.

RESULTS

Two hundred fifty-one patients (91%) had at least 1 YF on the OSPRO-YF tool, with a mean number of 6 ± 3.5 YFs. YFs in unhelpful coping (85%) and helpful coping domains (78%) were most prevalent. The number of YFs was significantly associated with baseline shoulder pain (P < .001), Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation (P < .001), and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Standardized Shoulder Assessment Form (P < .001) scores. Comparing operative and nonoperative cohorts, the operative cohort had a significantly higher mean number of YFs (6.5 vs. 5.6, P = .035), presence of any YF (94.3% vs. 85.7%, P = .015), and presence of YFs within the unhelpful coping domain (91.8% vs. 75.6%, P < .001). Three phenotypes were described, corresponding to low, moderate, and severe psychological distress (P < .001), with females (P = .037) and smokers (P = .018) associated with higher psychological distress phenotypes.

CONCLUSIONS

YFs, particularly within the unhelpful coping and helpful coping domains, were highly prevalent in a cohort of patients presenting to a shoulder surgeon's clinic. Additionally, operative patients were found to have a significantly higher rate of YFs across multiple dimensions of psychological distress. These findings stress the importance of routine attentiveness to multiple dimensions of pain-related psychological distress in shoulder populations, which can provide an opportunity to reinforce healthy interpretation of pain while minimizing distress in appropriately identified patients.