People with relatives who have had rotator cuff tears are at greater risk for similar injuries, U.S. researchers say.
The study, published in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, finds the increased risk for these rotator cuff tears in family members of patients extended out and beyond third-cousin relationships — the great-great-grandchildren of one’s great-great-grandparents.
Rotator cuff healing is often incomplete and identifying a possible genetic link to the disease may provide targets for biologic treatments to improve the healing rates,
Dr. Robert Tashjian of the University, the study leader from the Utah School of Medicine Orthopaedic Center in Salt Lake City, said in a statement.
While we have not determined the exact genetic component our family history data supports that heredity plays a role in the development of rotator cuff tearing.
Researchers used data from the Utah Population Database combined with the University of Utah Health Sciences Data Warehouse.
Rotator cuff tears — a shoulder injury usually found in people in their 50s and 60s — is believed to have both mechanical and environmental influences, but scientists are unclear why it occurs.
The potential impact of this research, says Tashjian, is knowing about a family history may alert patients to take some precautionary measures to protect against their own injuries.
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