Table 1.

Characteristics of included studies.

Study	Total rotator cuff tears	Massive tear definition	Massive tears, N	Study type	LOE	% male	Age, y	Follow-up, mo	MINORS criteria, %
Collin et al [10]	130	2 tendon	130	Case Series	IV	68	56.1 (26–79)	120	81
Paxton et al [33]	15	2 tendon	15	Case Series	IV	67	74.6 (63–90)	127	75
Collin et al [9]	53	2 tendon	53	Case Series	IV	64	54 (33–73)	240	88
Matsuba et al [28]	86	>5 cm	7	Retrospective Cohort	III	53	60.4 ± 7.3	133	88
König et al [25]	165	2 tendon	108	Retrospective Cohort	III	60	57.5 (45–74)	120	83
Zumstein et al [47]	23	2 tendon	23	Case Series	IV	65	54 (42–67)	119	94

Massive tear definition refers to how massive rotator cuff tears were defined in each study.

MINORS methodological index for non-randomized studies, LOE level of evidence.