Patients under fifty years old have reported worse outcomes from shoulder arthroplasty than patients over fifty. There are many factors that could explain this disparity, including differences in patient longevity and activity, as well as expectations and differences in expectations. However, the authors of Comparison of patients Undergoing Primary Shoulder Arthroplasty before and After the Age of Fifty looked at the possibility of patients under 50 years old having different pre-arthroplasty self assessments of comfort and function, sex distribution and type of arthritis to those of their older counterparts. Patients younger than fifty were not more likely to be female, or to have a lower self-assessed function and comfort score. These patients did have more severe conditions like capsulorrhaphy arthritis (arthritis after surgery to stabilize), rheumatoid and posttraumatic arthritis. Only 21% had primary degenerative joints disease in their younger patients, while 66% had it in their older patients.
They said that the older patients may have a pathoanatomy that could make it difficult to perform surgery ,….
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