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Rotator Cuff Tears Increase With Age and Are Often Asymptomatic
Full Title
A systematic review and pooled analysis of the prevalence of rotator cuff disease with increasing age.
Summary
This systematic review pooled data from 30 studies encompassing 6,112 shoulders to determine how common rotator cuff abnormalities are across different age groups. The researchers found that rotator cuff tears become increasingly common with age, rising from 9.7% in people aged 20 and younger to 62% in those aged 80 and older. Crucially, a high percentage of these tears were found in people with no symptoms at all, suggesting that many rotator cuff tears exist without causing pain. The prevalence of asymptomatic tears was high enough that the authors concluded rotator cuff degeneration should be considered a normal aspect of human aging, making it difficult to determine when a tear is new or the actual cause of symptoms.