Age is a Risk Factor for Postoperative Stiffness Following Surgical Treatment of Pediatric Discoid Lateral Meniscus: A Report From the SCORE Multicenter Database.

BACKGROUND

Discoid lateral meniscus is the most common etiology for isolated meniscal pathology in the pediatric population. However, there remains a limited understanding of how complication rates vary among different age groups undergoing surgical management of a symptomatic discoid lateral meniscus. The aims of this study were to compare postoperative complication rates between age groups in pediatric patients undergoing surgical management of a symptomatic discoid lateral meniscus and assess whether patient age group is a risk factor for any complication rate that differed between the 2 age groups.

METHODS

Consecutive cases of discoid lateral meniscus surgeries from 2018 to 2022 were queried from the SCORE database. Demographic, perioperative, and postoperative complication data were collected and compared between patients <10 and ≥10 years old. A multivariable logistic regression was used to better understand those variables that demonstrated significant differences between age cohorts.

RESULTS

Seven hundred sixty-three discoid lateral meniscus surgeries were identified for inclusion in this study, with 160 (20.5%) aged 10 years or younger and 603 (79.5%) 10 years or older. Postoperative stiffness was the most common complication occurring in 5.0% of patients. Overall complication rates were no different between the 2 age groups (11.9% vs. 11.9%, P =1.000). Specific complication rates were also no different between the 2 age groups with the exception that patients 10 years or younger had higher rates of postoperative stiffness than patients 10 years or older (11.3% vs. 3.3%, P <0.001) including both extension loss (6.4% vs. 1.2%, P <0.001) and flexion loss (3.1% vs. 1.7%, P <0.001). In multivariable analysis, age 10 years or younger was identified as a risk factor for postoperative stiffness when controlling for confounding variables. Specifically, patients 10 years or younger had 2.67 (95% CI: 1.12-5.86) and 3.09 (95% CI: 1.11-8.62) times the odds of developing postoperative stiffness and extension loss, respectively, compared with patients 10 years or older.

CONCLUSION

This study shows that age 10 years or younger is a risk factor for developing postoperative stiffness after undergoing surgical treatment of a symptomatic discoid lateral meniscus.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III-therapeutic, retrospective comparative study.