7 out of 10 Patients Undergoing Shoulder Rotator Cuff Tear Surgery Have 'Vitamin D' Deficiency or Insufficiency

Professor Lee Jae-hoo's Team at Ilsan Baek Hospital

About half of the patients with rotator cuff tears requiring surgical treatment of the shoulder joint were found to have vitamin D deficiency, according to a study.

Indoor workers complaining of shoulder pain.
[Photo by Ilsan Paik Hospital]

Professor Jae-Hoo Lee's team from the Department of Orthopedics at Inje University Ilsan Paik Hospital analyzed the blood vitamin D levels of patients who underwent surgery for rotator cuff tears and confirmed this on the 23rd.

The research team analyzed the blood vitamin D levels of 176 patients who underwent surgery for rotator cuff tears from December 2017 to July 2019. Among them, 44.3% (78 patients) showed vitamin D deficiency levels below 20 ng/mL. Additionally, 26.7% (47 patients) were in a vitamin D insufficient state (20?30 ng/mL), meaning that 71% of patients with rotator cuff tears were either deficient or insufficient in vitamin D.

Vitamin D plays an important role in the health and healing of the musculoskeletal system, including muscles and tendons such as the rotator cuff. Professor Lee explained, "We confirmed that vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency are quite common among Korean patients with rotator cuff tears requiring surgical treatment of the shoulder joint."

[Provided by Ilsan Baek Hospital]

Along with this, the research team found that among the study subjects, patients who mainly work indoors had more vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency compared to those who work outdoors. A comparative analysis between outdoor and indoor workers among rotator cuff tear surgery patients showed that indoor workers had about a 3.2 times higher risk of vitamin D deficiency.

Professor Lee advised, "Vitamin D is synthesized in the body by directly absorbing UVB ultraviolet rays through the skin. Spending a certain amount of time outdoors exposed to sunlight daily is considered the best way to prevent vitamin D deficiency."

The results of this study were published in the international journal of the Korean Orthopedic Association, 'Clinics in Orthopedic Surgery.'

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