Rotator Cuff Lesion and Obesity: A Demographic and Metabolic Evaluation

Objective  To analyze the relationship between the presence and severity of rotator cuff (RC) injury with obesity and the time of exposure to obesity. Secondarily, to evaluate the relationship and prevalence of demographic and metabolic factors in obese individuals with RC injury. Methods  This is a cross-sectional study with 235 obese patients (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 30 kg/m ² ). Demographic data (age and gender), metabolic data (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, lipid profile, and time of exposure to obesity), physical examination (weight, height, waist circumference, and clinical tests), and musculoskeletal ultrasound examination were used to analyze the results. Results  There was no evidence of an association between RC injury and BMI ( p  = 0.82), time of exposure to obesity ( p  = 0.29), or abdominal circumference ( p  = 0.52). In the subgroup with injury, age ( p  < 0.001), presence of diabetes mellitus ( p  = 0.013), hypertension ( p  < 0.001), level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) ( p  = 0.026), and time of exposure to obesity ( p  < 0.001) were significantly greater compared to the subgroup without injury. In the search for other parameters independently associated with RC injury, associations were observed with age ( p  = 0.0003) and hypertension ( p  = 0.004). Conclusion  We did not evidence an association between obesity and the time of exposure to it with the occurrence and severity of RC injury. However, individuals with injury had a longer time of exposure to obesity and prevalence of metabolic disorders than individuals without RC injury. In addition, our findings suggest an association between systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) and advanced age with RC injury.