Influence of Hyperlipidemia on the Treatment of Supraspinatus Tendinopathy With or Without Tear

OBJECTIVE To investigate the influence of hyperlipidemia on the treatment of supraspinatus tendinopathy, with or without tear. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the data of patients with shoulder pain and patients with supraspinatus tendinopathy, with or without tear, were included in the study. Exclusion criteria were prior shoulder surgery, prior steroid injection, neurological diseases that could lead to shoulder pain, and use of lipid-lowering medication. According to the serum lipid profiles, patients were assigned to either the hyperlipidemia or non-hyperlipidemia group. By analyzing the numeric rating scale (NRS) before treatment, and at 2 weeks and 8 weeks after treatment, we compared the difference in treatment effect between the two groups. RESULTS No significant baseline difference was found among the two groups for age, gender, body mass index, duration of pain, side of pain, range of motion of affected shoulder, or physical examination. On the repeated-measures analysis of variance, NRS scores significantly decreased with time for both groups (p<0.001). When analyzing the effect of time between the subjects factor, there was significant difference in the treatment effect between the two groups (p<0.001), namely NRS was less decreased in the hyperlipidemia group. CONCLUSION We found that hyperlipidemia may be an adversely affecting factor in the treatment of supraspinatus tendinopathy with or without tear.