Multifid Iliopsoas Tendons Are More Common in Patients With Painful Snapping Iliopsoas Tendons.

Purpose: To retrospectively determine the prevalence of multifid tendons in a population of patients who underwent iliopsoas release for painful snapping iliopsoas tendons. Methods: Patients who underwent iliopsoas release for painful snapping iliopsoas tendons were retrospectively identified from a database of patients who had undergone arthroscopic hip surgery performed by a single surgeon between 2011 and 2020. Patients who had incomplete data or who underwent prior fracture fixation, joint arthroplasty, pelvic surgery, or other interventions for snapping hip were excluded. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and operative reports were reviewed and compared with those of an age-matched control group of patients who had undergone hip or pelvic MRI examinations in the past year for different indications. Results: This study included 91 patients (78 female and 13 male patients; mean age, 23.3 years) who were treated operatively for painful snapping hip and 78 controls (54 female and 24 male patients; mean age, 28.4 years) who received hip or pelvic MRI for other indications. Among the patients who underwent iliopsoas release, there were 5 unifid iliopsoas tendons (5.5%) compared with 86 multifid iliopsoas tendons (94.5%) when classified with MRI whereas operative examination showed 19 unifid tendons (20.9%) compared with 72 multifid tendons (79.1%, P < .001). When the MRI scans of the operative group were compared with the MRI scans of the control group, the patients who underwent surgery for painful snapping hip had a higher rate of multifid tendons (94.5% of operative hips compared with 69.2% of control right hips [P < .001] and 74.4% of control left hips [P < .001]). However, when the operative reports were used to classify the iliopsoas tendon, there was no significance between the operative and control groups (79.1% of operative hips had multifid tendons compared with 69.2% of control right hips [P = .141] and 74.4% of control left hips [P = .464]). Conclusions: For patients with symptomatic snapping hip undergoing iliopsoas lengthening, multifid iliopsoas tendons are more prevalent than in a control population. Level of Evidence: Level IV, prognostic case series.

Experimental Chemotherapy-Induced Mucositis: A Scoping Review Guiding the Design of Suitable Preclinical Models.

Mucositis is a common and most debilitating complication associated with the cytotoxicity of chemotherapy. The condition affects the entire alimentary canal from the mouth to the anus and has a significant clinical and economic impact. Although oral and intestinal mucositis can occur concurrently in the same individual, these conditions are often studied independently using organ-specific models that do not mimic human disease. Hence, the purpose of this scoping review was to provide a comprehensive yet systematic overview of the animal models that are utilised in the study of chemotherapy-induced mucositis. A search of PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus databases was conducted to identify all relevant studies. Multiple phases of filtering were conducted, including deduplication, title/abstract screening, full-text screening, and data extraction. Studies were reported according to the updated Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. An inter-rater reliability test was conducted using Cohen's Kappa score. After title, abstract, and full-text screening, 251 articles met the inclusion criteria. Seven articles investigated both chemotherapy-induced intestinal and oral mucositis, 198 articles investigated chemotherapy-induced intestinal mucositis, and 46 studies investigated chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis. Among a total of 205 articles on chemotherapy-induced intestinal mucositis, 103 utilised 5-fluorouracil, 34 irinotecan, 16 platinum-based drugs, 33 methotrexate, and 32 other chemotherapeutic agents. Thirteen articles reported the use of a combination of 5-fluorouracil, irinotecan, platinum-based drugs, or methotrexate to induce intestinal mucositis. Among a total of 53 articles on chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis, 50 utilised 5-fluorouracil, 2 irinotecan, 2 methotrexate, 1 topotecan and 1 with other chemotherapeutic drugs. Three articles used a combination of these drugs to induce oral mucositis. Various animal models such as mice, rats, hamsters, piglets, rabbits, and zebrafish were used. The chemotherapeutic agents were introduced at various dosages via three routes of administration. Animals were mainly mice and rats. Unlike intestinal mucositis, most oral mucositis models combined mechanical or chemical irritation with chemotherapy. In conclusion, this extensive assessment of the literature revealed that there was a large variation among studies that reproduce oral and intestinal mucositis in animals. To assist with the design of a suitable preclinical model of chemotherapy-induced alimentary tract mucositis, animal types, routes of administration, dosages, and types of drugs were reported in this study. Further research is required to define an optimal protocol that improves the translatability of findings to humans.

Black Race, Hispanic Ethnicity, and Medicaid Insurance Are Associated With Lower Rates of Rotator Cuff Repair in New York State.

PURPOSE: To determine the use of operative rotator cuff repair for rotator cuff pathology in New York State and analyze the racial, ethnic, and income-based disparities in receiving rotator cuff repair. METHODS: A retrospective review of the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System Database of New York State was conducted to include patients with a new diagnosis of rotator cuff tear between July 1, 2017, and June 30, 2019, with at least 6 months of follow-up. Bivariate analysis using χ2 tests and multivariable logistic regression models were used to determine racial, ethnic, and income-based disparities in the use of surgical treatment with rotator cuff repair. RESULTS: A total of 87,660 patients were included in the study. Of these, 36,422 patients (41.5%) underwent surgical treatment with rotator cuff repair. Multivariable analysis showed that Black race (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.78; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.69-0.87; P < .001), Hispanic/Latino ethnicity (aOR 0.91; 95% CI 0.85-0.97); P = .004), and Medicaid (aOR 0.75; 95% CI 0.70-0.80; P < .001), or other government insurance (aOR 0.82; 95% CI 0.78-0.86; P < .001) were independently associated with lower rates of rotator cuff repair. Male sex (aOR 1.18; 95% CI 1.14-1.22; P < .001), Asian race (aOR 1.27; 95% CI 1.00-1.62; P = .048), workers' compensation insurance (aOR 1.12; 95% CI 1.07-1.18; P < .001), and greater home ZIP code income quartile (aOR 1.19; 95% CI 1.09-1.30; P < .001) were independently associated with greater rates of operative management. Although race was an independent covariate affecting rate of rotator cuff repair, the effects of race were altered when accounting for the other covariates, suggesting that race alone does not account for the differences in rate of surgery for rotator cuff pathology. CONCLUSIONS: In this analysis of all adult patients presenting with rotator cuff tears to New York hospital systems from 2017 to 2019, we identified significant racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in the likelihood of rotator cuff repair surgery for patients with rotator cuff tears. These include lower rates of rotator cuff repair for those Black, Hispanic, and low-income populations as represented by Medicaid insurance and low home ZIP code income quartile. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This study reports disparities in the use of rotator cuff repair for individuals with rotator cuff pathology.

Toward a Mobile Platform for Real-world Digital Measurement of Depression: User-Centered Design, Data Quality, and Behavioral and Clinical Modeling.

BACKGROUND: Although effective mental health treatments exist, the ability to match individuals to optimal treatments is poor, and timely assessment of response is difficult. One reason for these challenges is the lack of objective measurement of psychiatric symptoms. Sensors and active tasks recorded by smartphones provide a low-burden, low-cost, and scalable way to capture real-world data from patients that could augment clinical decision-making and move the field of mental health closer to measurement-based care. OBJECTIVE: This study tests the feasibility of a fully remote study on individuals with self-reported depression using an Android-based smartphone app to collect subjective and objective measures associated with depression severity. The goals of this pilot study are to develop an engaging user interface for high task adherence through user-centered design; test the quality of collected data from passive sensors; start building clinically relevant behavioral measures (features) from passive sensors and active inputs; and preliminarily explore connections between these features and depression severity. METHODS: A total of 600 participants were asked to download the study app to join this fully remote, observational 12-week study. The app passively collected 20 sensor data streams (eg, ambient audio level, location, and inertial measurement units), and participants were asked to complete daily survey tasks, weekly voice diaries, and the clinically validated Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) self-survey. Pairwise correlations between derived behavioral features (eg, weekly minutes spent at home) and PHQ-9 were computed. Using these behavioral features, we also constructed an elastic net penalized multivariate logistic regression model predicting depressed versus nondepressed PHQ-9 scores (ie, dichotomized PHQ-9). RESULTS: A total of 415 individuals logged into the app. Over the course of the 12-week study, these participants completed 83.35% (4151/4980) of the PHQ-9s. Applying data sufficiency rules for minimally necessary daily and weekly data resulted in 3779 participant-weeks of data across 384 participants. Using a subset of 34 behavioral features, we found that 11 features showed a significant (P<.001 Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted) Spearman correlation with weekly PHQ-9, including voice diary-derived word sentiment and ambient audio levels. Restricting the data to those cases in which all 34 behavioral features were present, we had available 1013 participant-weeks from 186 participants. The logistic regression model predicting depression status resulted in a 10-fold cross-validated mean area under the curve of 0.656 (SD 0.079). CONCLUSIONS: This study finds a strong proof of concept for the use of a smartphone-based assessment of depression outcomes. Behavioral features derived from passive sensors and active tasks show promising correlations with a validated clinical measure of depression (PHQ-9). Future work is needed to increase scale that may permit the construction of more complex (eg, nonlinear) predictive models and better handle data missingness.

Characteristics of Marijuana Use Among Orthopedic Patients.

Marijuana use among orthopedic patients has not been extensively studied. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of marijuana use among orthopedic surgery patients. Additionally, the authors sought to better characterize how and why their patients use marijuana. Patients presenting at 3 institutions in 2 states for orthopedic surgery were asked to complete a voluntary survey. In addition to basic demographic information, the survey contained questions regarding the frequency of, methods of, and reasons for marijuana use. Patients who had used marijuana in the past year were categorized as marijuana users. A total of 275 patients completed surveys, of whom 94 (34%) endorsed marijuana use in the past year. A majority of marijuana users (55%) endorsed using marijuana either daily or weekly. Smoking was the most common means of marijuana use (90%), followed by edible products (35%) and vaporizing (24%). Pain management (54%) and recreation (52%) were the most commonly cited reasons for using marijuana. Eighty-six percent of marijuana users indicated that they would stop using marijuana if told by their physician that marijuana use would adversely affect their surgery. Marijuana use is common among orthopedic patients. Many patients believe marijuana is beneficial for managing pain and other medical conditions, although most would be willing to stop using marijuana if told it would negatively impact their surgery. Further study into the effects of marijuana use on musculoskeletal health is warranted because marijuana use may be a risk factor easily modified to improve surgical outcomes. [Orthopedics. 2020; 43(2): 108-112.].

Risk factors for ectopic pregnancy in the Taiwanese population: a retrospective observational study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to explore the risk factors for ectopic pregnancy (EP) in the Taiwanese population and to identify any unknown risk factors for EP that could assist awareness and diagnosis. METHODS: This retrospective case-control study utilizes Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Analysis was conducted with a one million sample database representative of the country's population. The case group comprised of 6637 individuals in the database that coded for EP using the ICD-9 classification system from January 2003 to December 2011. The control group comprised of 13,270 females matched by age that were never diagnosed with EP during the study period. RESULTS: This study provides an analysis of the risk factors of EP utilizing NHIRD. Among the 6637 people diagnosed with EP, logistic regression with age adjustment showed that the highest risk factor was endometriosis (OR = 8.84, CI 5.13-15.23), followed by polycystic ovary (OR = 7.74, CI 3.37-17.79) and benign neoplasm of the ovary (6.01, CI 2.18-16.54). All odds ratios were determined to be statistically significant at p < 0.001. CONCLUSION: This study has identified the diagnosis of endometriosis and polycystic ovaries as the two largest risk factors for EP in Taiwan, and has also newly identified benign neoplasm of ovary and uterine leiomyoma as risk factors for EP.