Assessing Appropriateness for Shoulder Arthroplasty Using a Shared Decision-Making Process

The primary purpose of this study was to validate an appropriateness decision-aid tool as a part of engaging patients with glenohumeral arthritis in their surgical management. The associations between the final decision to have surgery and patient characteristics were examined.

This was an observational study. The demographics, overall health, patient-specific risk profile, expectations, and health-related quality of life were documented. Visual analog scale and the American Shoulder & Elbow Surgeon (ASES) measured pain and functional disability, respectively. Clinical and imaging examination documented clinical findings and extent of degenerative arthritis and cuff tear arthropathy. Appropriateness for arthroplasty surgery was documented by a 5-item Likert response survey and the final decision was documented as ready, not-ready, and would like to further discuss.

Eighty patients, 38 women (47.5%), mean age: 72(8) participated in the study. The appropriateness decision aid showed excellent discriminate validity (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve value of 0.93) in differentiating between patients who were "ready" and those who were "not-ready" to have surgery. Gender (P  =  0.037), overall health (P  =  .024), strength in external rotation (P  =  .002), pain severity (P  =  .001), ASES score (P < .0001), and expectations (P  =  .024) were contributing factors to the decision to have surgery. Imaging findings did not play a significant role in the final decision to have surgery.

A 5-item tool showed excellent validity in differentiating patients who were ready to have surgery versus those who were not. Patient's gender, expectations, strength, and self-reported outcomes were important factors in reaching the final decision.