A preliminary pilot study to address design issues related to research on potential association of hormone therapy and adhesive capsulitis

Objective Adhesive capsulitis (AC) is considered idiopathic, yet typically affects women aged 40–60 years. The purpose of this study was to determine whether hormone therapy is protective against AC in menopausal women. The study hypothesized that patients prescribed hormone therapy would have lower odds of AC than those not using hormone therapy.Method Medical record extraction for a single health maintenance organization was used to identify postmenopausal women aged 40– 60 years and assess the utilization of hormone therapy and diagnosis of AC. The distribution of AC and endocrine disorders was compared between treatment groups using chi-squared tests and the odds ratio (OR) was reported.Results The cohort included 1952 patients (152 hormone therapy, 1800 without hormone therapy). No statistically significant differences were found between treatment groups for endocrine disorders. A higher percentage of AC was noted in patients without hormone therapy compared to patients with hormone therapy (7.65% vs. 3.95%), although the association was not statistically significant (OR 1.99; 95% confidence interval 0.86–4.58; p = 0.10).Conclusion This pilot study did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference in odds of AC in menopausal women with and without hormone therapy. Larger prospective studies are needed to further explore potential protective effects of hormone therapy against AC.