Methodological considerations in the multicenter cohort study of partial-thickness supraspinatus tear repair by...

This correspondence comments on the multicenter cohort study by Audigé et al. (Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research, 2026) reporting outcomes of arthroscopic repair for partial-thickness supraspinatus tears. We highlight four aspects of the study that, in our view, would benefit from further clarification or additional discussion: (1) limited information regarding the surgical indications for tear completion, which may complicate interpretation of treatment-selection effects; (2) the absence of a technique-specific analysis of adverse events, particularly postoperative stiffness; (3) the unreported methodology used for intraoperative Ellman grade determination, the primary classification variable and the only factor significantly associated with tear completion; and (4) the potential residual influence of differential concomitant acromioplasty across tear-location groups despite statistical adjustment. Addressing these issues would further strengthen the interpretation and clinical applicability of this otherwise valuable prospective multicenter dataset.