Demographical, Anatomical, Disease-Related, and Occupational Risk Factors for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common focal mononeuropathy. It causes characteristic symptoms, including numbness and paresthesia in hand due to median nerve compression at the wrist.

We aimed to investigate CTS prevalence and personal, psychosocial, biomedical, and occupational factors related to it comprehensively, according to scattered publications, without the simultaneous evaluation of all CTS risk factors.

A total of 345 patients referred to a hand clinic with a complaint of paresthesia in upper extremities and suspected CTS. The patients underwent neurological assessment and electrodiagnostic (EDX) tests to confirm the diagnosis. The demographic information, past medical history, past trauma history, and occupational history of all the patients were recorded and finally analyzed with SPSS software.

Of the patients, 213 (67.1%) met the criteria for CTS, of whom 160 (75%) were female. Females were significantly more affected by CTS than males (P < 0.05). The mean age was higher in the CTS patients (53.80 ± 11.57 years) than in non-patients (42.39 ± 12.31 years, P < 0.001). No statistical relevance was found between CTS prevalence with occupational history, underlying medical conditions, positive Tinel’s and Phalen's tests, and muscle atrophy.

We recognized age and gender as main determinants in developing CTS. We also found that older age was related to higher CTS intensity.