Introduction
Meniscal tears are among the most common knee injuries. Successful meniscus repair is vital to avoid articular cartilage damage and osteoarthritis. There are many factors that contribute to the outcome and prognosis of meniscus repair including patient and injury factors. The goal of this study is to identify demographic and socioeconomic factors that may influence patient outcomes after meniscus repair. It was hypothesized that age, BMI, and socioeconomic factors impact meniscus repair outcomes.
Methods
Retrospective review identified patients who underwent meniscus repair surgery between 2009 and 2018 at a single academic institution. Chart review was undertaken to collect demographic data and well as surgical data. Charts were specifically screened to identify socioeconomic factors that may impact outcomes following meniscus repair. Patients were classified as having socioeconomic risk factors if they reported socioeconomic barriers to healthcare access in the perioperative period. Patients were included in the analysis if patient-reported outcomes were available with one-year minimum follow-up.
Results
Sixty -Seven patients were included in the analysis. Chart review identified socioeconomic factors that limited access to care in the perioperative period in 21.74% of patients. Adverse outcomes including persistent pain, meniscus retears, and inability to return to normal activities occurred in 13 patients (15%). Among these patients, 40% of them reported lack of access to physical therapy due to various reasons including inadequate insurance coverage, lack of transportation, inability to take time off work and personal or family problems. Another patient delayed time to surgery due to being unable to take time off work.
Conclusion
Socioeconomic status may significantly impact outcomes following meniscus repair. Further work with larger dataset would provide more insight into this important question.