Clinical outcomes of arthroscopic rotator cuff repair: correlation between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) scores

Abstract

Background: There are more than 40 outcome scores for evaluating shoulder pain and function. Some studies have correlated the results obtained using different scales, but none has compared the results obtained by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) scores.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study to evaluate patients who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair with 2 years' follow-up. The patients were evaluated by the UCLA and ASES scores preoperatively and at 6, 12, and 24 months after surgery. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was calculated to measure the degree of correlation between the 2 outcome scores.

Results: We evaluated 143 patients. At 24 months postoperatively, the UCLA and ASES scores were 30.4 ± 5.8 and 81.2 ± 20.8, respectively (P < .001). The UCLA and ASES scores showed a very high correlation (r = 0.91, P < .001). In all the postoperative clinical evaluations, the scores obtained from the 2 scales were highly or very highly correlated (r = 0.87-0.92, P < .001). For the preoperative scores, the correlation was moderate (r = 0.67, P < .001).

Conclusion: The UCLA and ASES scores presented a very high correlation in the evaluation of surgical treatment of rotator cuff tear. In the preoperative period, the correlation was moderate.

Keywords: Rotator cuff tear; arthroscopic; outcome scores; rehabilitation; rotator cuff repair; shoulder.