Study Links Shoulder Pain to Increased Heart Risk

Shoulder pain could signify that an individual is at higher risk of heart disease, according to a new study.

A team including researchers from the University of Utah and the University of Wisconsin evaluated possible associations between risk factors and both glenohumeral joint pain and rotator cuff tendinopathy. The investigators assessed data from the WISTAH hand study, which included 1226 participants, to evaluate associations between Framingham Heart Study cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and both health outcomes.
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The authors observed a strong association between CVD risk scores and both glenohumeral joint pain and rotator cuff tendinopathy. Thirty-six participants with the most severe collection of risk factors were 4.6 times more likely than those with none of the risk factors to have had shoulder joint pain, and were close to 6 times more apt to have had a second shoulder condition, rotator cuff tendinopathy. Patients with mid-level heart risk were less likely to have experienced either shoulder condition, the researchers added.

Overall, individual risk factors were associated with both outcomes. Combined, CVD risk factors demonstrated a strong correlation with glenohumeral joint pain and an even stronger correlation with rotator cuff tendinopathy. The results “suggest a potentially modifiable disease mechanism,” the authors wrote.

“These findings suggest those with rotator cuff tendinitis and tears have higher risk of heart attacks,” says lead study author Kurt Hegmann, MD, MPH, professor of family and preventive medicine and director of the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health.

“Also, these results suggest we need to more closely control cardiac risk factors in those with rotator cuff tendinitis,” adds Hegmann, “for reasons of both the heart and shoulder.”

—Mark McGraw

Reference

Applegate K, Thiese M, et al. Association between cardiovascular disease risk factors and rotator cuff tendinopathy: cross-sectional study [published online December 20, 2016]. Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000000929.