Clinical features of patients diagnosed with degenerative rotator cuff tendon disease: a 6-month prospective-definitive clinical study from turkey

[Purpose] In rotator cuff tendon disease (RCTD), anamnesis is as important as clinical findings and anatomic/radio diagnostic examination. This study aimed to investigate the clinical features of patients diagnosed with RCTD using clinical and radiological methods between March 2015 and August 2015 at Malatya Research and Training Hospital Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation department. [Subjects and Methods] The study included 178 patients who were diagnosed with RCTD (128 females and 50 males). A questionnaire comprising 33 questions was given to each patient. [Results] Eighty-eight of the patients (49.9%) had an involvement on their right side, eighty-four (47.1%) had an involvement on their left side, and 6 had bilateral involvement. Mean visual analog scale (VAS) score was found to be statistically significant in favor of female patients. A statistically significant correlation was found between educational status and VAS. The body mass index (BMI) of the female patients was found to be higher than that of the male patients. Statistically significant correlation between doing risky work and gender showed that males were at a higher risk. [Conclusion] RCDT is more seen in people who have high BMI and are at their 50s. Pain complaint and BMI were found higher in female patients. DM, thyroid and cardiac diseases were seen more in the patients who are diagnosed with RCTD relative to the healthy population.