Elsevier

Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery

Volume 9, Issue 1, January–February 2000, Pages 12-15
Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery

Original Articles
Shoulder impingement syndrome: Preoperative health status*,**

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1058-2746(00)90003-XGet rights and content

Abstract

Eighty-one patients with chronic shoulder impingement resistant to conservative treatment completed a generic quality-of-life questionnaire (SF-36) and shoulder-specific questionnaire (Simple Shoulder Test [SST]). SF-36 data were compared with those of an Australian normative data set. Patients with chronic shoulder impingement were found to be significantly lower in all health dimensions of the SF-36 than the normal population. Results from the SST test indicated that patients were functionally very limited, particularly in being unable to work full time at their usual job and being unable to lift a weight above the head. Our results indicate that chronic shoulder impingement results in significant functional disability and a reduction in quality of life. Baseline descriptive data of this nature are important, because they provide a point of comparison for the effect of different conditions and for determining the effect of surgical treatment. (J Shoulder Elbow Surg 2000;9:12-15.)

Section snippets

Methods

Preoperative assessments were conducted on a consecutive series of patients due to undergo open or closed subacromial acromioplasty at Flinders Medical Center or Repatriation General Hospital. Only patients with Neer stages 2 and 3 impingement syndrome were included in this study.13, 14 Patients with diseases other than shoulder impingement or who had undergone previous shoulder surgery were not included. Patients were given the diagnosis of impingement syndrome on the basis of a clinical

Results

The study group consisted of 81 patients who underwent shoulder surgery for chronic impingement syndrome between November 1994 and July 1997 at Flinders Medical Center or Repatriation General Hospital. Thirty female and 51 male patients were included. Age ranges are presented in Table I.

. Age ranges of patients

Age groups (y)No. of patientsPercentage
15 - 2411
25 - 3445
35 - 4456
45 - 541519
55 - 641822
65 - 742227
75 - 841620
Eighty percent of the subjects were between 45 and 84 years old. Seventy-five

Discussion

This study demonstrates that chronic impingement syndrome of the shoulder results in significant reduction in function and quality of life for patients at our hospital. These patients had all received conservative treatment before electing surgery. All patients were reviewed at Flinders Medical Center or Repatriation General Hospital; therefore the results cannot be extrapolated to the general population.

Compared with normative Australian SF-36 data, patients with chronic impingement were below

References (20)

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*

Reprint requests: Associate Professor J. Krishnan, Director, Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, SA 5042 Australia.

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J Shoulder Elbow Surg 2000;9:12-15.

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