The Presence of Preoperative Depression Symptoms Does Not Hinder Recovery After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

Background: The current literature suggests a link between psychosocial factors and poor surgical outcomes in patients with musculoskeletal complaints. However, there remains a limited body of literature examining the effect of depression on outcomes after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR).

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to compare postoperative function patient-reported outcome scores between patients with and patients without preoperative depression symptoms undergoing ACLR. Secondary goals included comparing postoperative pain interference and depression scores between the 2 groups.

Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2.

Methods: In this single-center retrospective cohort study, pediatric and adult patients who underwent ACLR were included. The Physical Function (PF), Pain Interference (PI), and Depression (D) domain scores of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) were collected preoperatively and at 6 and 12 months postoperatively. Patients were separated into clinical depression (CD) and no clinical depression (NCD) groups based on their preoperative PROMIS-D score.

Results: A total of 82 patients undergoing ACLR were included in this study. Of these, 19 (23%) patients met criteria for the CD group. Preoperatively, the CD group reported lower mean PROMIS-PF (33.3 vs 39.7, respectively; = .001), higher PROMIS-PI (65.7 vs 59.2, respectively; <.01), and higher PROMIS-D (62.4 vs 45.1, respectively; < .001) scores than the NCD group. At 12 months postoperatively, the mean PROMIS-PF scores for the CD and NCD groups were 52.1 and 56.7, respectively ( = .12). The mean 12-month postoperative PROMIS-PI scores for the CD and NCD groups were 52.3 and 47.4, respectively ( = .04). At 12 months after ACLR, there was a substantial improvement in PROMIS-PF and PROMIS-PI scores for both the CD (delta = +18.8 and -13.4, respectively) and NCD (delta = +17.0 and -11.8) groups.

Conclusion: There was a significant improvement, which exceeded currently accepted minimal clinically important difference values, in PROMIS-PF scores at 12 months after ACLR, regardless of the presence of preoperative depression symptoms. These data suggest that having depression symptoms preoperatively does not significantly hinder a patient's recovery after ACLR.