Social Determinants of Health Influence Access to Care and Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Systematic Review.

PURPOSE

To investigate the impact social determinants of health (SDOH) have on accessing orthopaedic treatment after an anterior cruciate ligament injury, as well as patient-reported and surgical outcomes after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR).

METHODS

A systematic search of the PubMed, MEDLINE, Epub Ahead of Print, Embase, and Web of Science databases was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines to identify studies that reported at least 1 SDOH and its effect on patient-reported outcomes or surgical outcomes after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Our search identified 937 studies. After eliminating 273 duplicates, 2 authors screened 664 articles on the basis of title and abstract. After this initial screening, 76 studies were evaluated for data extraction. Studies were categorized based on the social determinant(s) of health reported.

RESULTS

Twenty-two articles published between 2002 and 2020 were included in this study, encompassing 15 retrospective cohort studies, 3 prospective cohort studies, 3 cross-sectional studies, and 1 case-control study from 9 journals across 3 countries. Of these articles, 9 investigated race/ethnicity, 8 investigated insurance status, 4 investigated income, 5 investigated education level, 2 investigated employment status, and 5 investigated socioeconomic status. Reported outcomes included time to treatment, concomitant knee injury, patient-reported outcome measurement scores, postoperative complications, need for additional surgery, and postoperative healthcare utilization.

CONCLUSIONS

Certain SDOH, including black race, Hispanic ethnicity, public health insurance, and lower socioeconomic status contribute to a delay in access to care, which may result in increased severity of concomitant knee injuries encountered at the time of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and inferior outcomes.

STUDY DESIGN

Level III, systematic review of level I-III evidence.