Accuracy of Critical Shoulder Angle and Acromial Index for Predicting Supraspinatus Tendinopathy

Critical shoulder angle (CSA) is the angle between the superior and inferior bony margins of the glenoid and the most lateral border of the acromion. The acromial index (AI) is the distance from the glenoid plane to the acromial lateral border and is divided by the distance from the glenoid plane to the lateral aspect of the humeral head. Although both are used for predicting shoulder diseases, research on their accuracy in predicting supraspinatus tendinopathy in patients with shoulder pain is limited. Data were retrospectively collected from 308 patients with supraspinatus tendinopathy between January 2018 and December 2019. Simultaneously, we gathered the data of 300 patients with shoulder pain without supraspinatus tendinopathy, confirmed through ultrasound examination. Baseline demographic data, CSA, and AI were compared using the independent Student's t test and Mann-Whitney U test. Categorical variables were analyzed using the chi-square test. A receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was performed to investigate the accuracy of CSA and AI for predicting supraspinatus tendinopathy, and the optimal cut-off point was determined using the Youden index. No statistical differences were observed for age, sex, body mass index, evaluated side (dominant), diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia between the groups. The supraspinatus tendinopathy group showed higher CSAs (p < 0.001) than did the non-supraspinatus tendinopathy group. For predicting supraspinatus tendinopathy, the area under the curve (AUC) of ROC curve of the CSA was 76.8%, revealing acceptable discrimination. The AUC of AI was 46.9%, revealing no discrimination. Moreover, when patients with shoulder pain had a CSA > 38.11 degrees, the specificity and sensitivity of CSA in predicting supraspinatus tendinopathy were 71.0% and 71.8%, respectively. CSA could be considered an objective assessment tool to predict supraspinatus tendinopathy in patients with shoulder pain. AI revealed no discrimination in predicting supraspinatus tendinopathy in patients with shoulder pain.