Role of Nutritional Status, Dietary Habits, Supplements, and Metabolic Predictors in Healing and Early Recovery After Rotator Cuff Repair: A Systematic Review
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Background: Nutritional and metabolic status may influence tendon-to-bone healing and early functional recovery after rotator cuff repair, but the clinical evidence is dispersed across heterogeneous exposures. Objective: To synthesize reported associations of vitamin D status, nutritional risk, and dietary habits with healing or recovery after rotator cuff repair. Methods: Human clinical studies reporting a nutritional, dietary, supplement, or metabolic exposure and a postoperative healing or recovery outcome were reviewed. Study characteristics, effect estimates, and Newcastle–Ottawa Scale domains were summarized without pooling clinically dissimilar exposures. Results: Three cohort studies comprising 287 patients were included. Vitamin D deficiency was associated with a higher retear rate than sufficiency (26.67% vs 9.09%; OR 3.64, 95% CI 1.07 to 12.41). In adults aged at least 65 years, lower GNRI was associated with two-year retear, with ORs from 3.39 to 5.62 across reported contrasts. In one 55-patient cohort, habitual meat, fruit, and wheat-flour intake was associated with rapid recovery; ORs ranged from 1.62 to 4.69. Study quality was moderate to moderate-good. Conclusion: Nutritional status and dietary patterns were associated with postoperative outcomes, but the evidence is sparse, observational, and clinically heterogeneous. Findings are hypothesis-generating and do not establish a supplement or dietary treatment effect
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