Introduction: Achilles tendon ruptures are common. Metabolic disorders, such as diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, thyroid disorders, and obesity, impair tendons health, leading to Achilles tendinopathy and likely predisposing patients to Achilles tendon ruptures. Materials and methods: Patients who visited the Orthopedic Outpatient Clinics and the Accident and Emergency Departments of five different hospitals in Italy were recruited. Through telephone interviews, we administered a questionnaire to all the patients who had undergone surgical ATR repair, evaluating their past medical history, sport- and work-related activities, drug use, and post-operative rehabilitation outcomes. Results: "Return to work activities/sport" was negatively predicted by the presence of a metabolic disorder (β = -0.451; OR = 0.637) and 'open' surgery technique (β = -0.389; OR = 0.678). "Medical complications" were significantly predicted by metabolic disorders (β = 0.600 (0.198); OR = 1.822) and was negatively related to 'mini-invasive' surgery (i.e., not 'open' nor 'percutaneous') (β = -0.621; OR = 0.537). "Immediate weightbearing" and "immediate walking without assistance" were negatively predicted by 'open' technique (β = -0.691; OR = 0.501 and β = -0.359 (0.174; OR = 0.698)). Conclusions: Metabolic conditions can strongly affect post-operative outcomes following surgical repair of acute Achilles tendon tears.
Keywords: Achilles tendon; diabetes mellitus; dysmetabolism; hypercholesterolemia; obesity; rehabilitation; rupture; surgery; thyroid disease.