Socioeconomic and Demographic Variables Are Lacking in Meniscectomy Randomized Controlled Trials: A Systematic Review

To evaluate the inclusion of sociodemographic factors in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on meniscectomy outcomes, with the goal of understanding the extent to which RCTs on meniscectomy consider sociodemographic variables.

PubMed, Embase, and MEDLINE were queried from January 1, 2014, to October 10, 2024, for meniscectomy RCTs in high-impact journals. Each RCT was assessed for inclusion of the following background and sociodemographic variables: age, sex, body mass index (BMI), race/ethnicity, education level, insurance, smoking/tobacco use, socioeconomic status, marital status, alcohol use, proficiency in country's official language, employment status, and residence status. Temporal trends were analyzed using the Fisher exact test.

Of 301 RCTs screened, 11 reports on unique meniscectomy trials were included. All 11 studies included age. Sex and BMI were included in 10 studies (90.9%). Patients' proficiency in the official language(s) of the study country was only included in 4 studies (36.4%). Employment status was reported in 2 studies (18.2%), and race/ethnicity and smoking/tobacco use were each included in one study (9.1%). Socioeconomic status, residency status, alcohol use, marital status, and insurance were not reported in any included RCT. There was no significant difference in the reporting of at least 1 sociodemographic variable (excluding age, sex, and BMI) in later studies (2015-2019) versus earlier studies (2020-2024, P = .061).

Our analysis of high-impact meniscectomy RCTs revealed deficient reporting of sociodemographic variables over the last decade. RCTs investigating meniscectomy outcomes should consistently report key sociodemographic variables to better elucidate the external validity of their findings.

This analysis highlights the historical oversight of sociodemographic factors in meniscectomy trials and thus emphasizes the critical need to incorporate these variables in future orthopaedic clinical research to improve the generalizability, utility, and replicability of study findings.