The association between race/ethnicity and outcomes following primary shoulder arthroplasty

Abstract

Background: Although prior studies have reported health disparities in total knee and hip arthroplasty, few have evaluated the effect of race/ethnicity on total shoulder arthroplasty, particularly in a setting in which patients have uniform access to care. Because the procedural volume of shoulder arthroplasty has increased dramatically over the past decade, evaluating the association between race/ethnicity and postoperative outcomes is warranted. We sought to evaluate racial/ethnic disparities in adverse postoperative events within a universally insured shoulder arthroplasty cohort in an integrated health care system.

Methods: An integrated health care system's registry was used to identify patients who underwent elective primary (total or reverse) shoulder arthroplasty from 2005 to 2016. Four mutually exclusive race/ethnicity groups were investigated: white, Asian, black, and Hispanic. Racial differences were evaluated using Cox proportional hazards regression for all-cause revision and conditional logistic regression for 90-day unplanned readmissions and 90-day emergency department (ED) visits while adjusting for confounders.

Results: Of the 8360 shoulder procedures, 2% were performed in Asian patients; 5%, black patients; 9%, Hispanic patients; and 84%, white patients. Compared with white patients, Hispanic patients had a 44% lower revision risk (hazard ratio, 0.56; 95% confidence interval, 0.33-0.97). Black patients had a 45% higher likelihood of a 90-day ED visit (odds ratio, 1.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-1.89).

Conclusion: We found minority groups to have revision and unplanned readmission risks that were similar to or lower than those of white patients. However, black patients had a higher likelihood of ED visits. Further investigation is needed to determine the reasons for this disparity and identify interventions to mitigate unnecessary ED visits.

Keywords: Shoulder arthroplasty; emergency department visit; race/ethnicity; readmission; revision.