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Symptoms Of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Common In General Population CHICAGO, IL -- July 13, 1999 -- Symptoms of pain, numbness and tingling in the hands are common in the general population, suggesting that one in five people who report these symptoms may have carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), a repetitive strain injury caused by compression of a nerve in the wrist, according to an article in tomorrow’s issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. Isam Atroshi, M.D., of Hässleholm-Kristianstad Hospital in Kristianstad, Sweden, and colleagues conducted a general health mail survey with 2,466 randomly selected subjects in southern Sweden in February 1997 to estimate the prevalence of CTS in the general population. The survey was followed two months later by a clinical examination and nerve conduction testing of responders who reported having symptoms of pain, numbness, and tingling in the hands, as well as of a sample of those who did not report having these symptoms (the control group). Of the 2,466 respondents, 354 (14.4 percent) reported experiencing pain, numbness and/or tingling in the wrists and hands. During the clinical examination, 94 symptomatic respondents (3.8 percent) were diagnosed as having CTS. The nerve conduction testing, which uses electricity to detect damage or dysfunction in the nerves, showed that 120 symptomatic respondents (4.9 percent) had abnormalities of the median nerve in the wrist. Sixty-six symptomatic respondents had confirmed CTS based on both the clinical examination and electrophysiological testing (prevalence of 2.7 percent). Based on this data, the researchers estimate that one in five symptomatic respondents would be expected to have CTS based on clinical examination and electrophysiologic testing. Of the 125 control subjects who were clinically examined, 23 (18.4 percent) had electrophysiologic evidence of median nerve involvement. Among older persons, women were four times more likely to have confirmed CTS than men, the authors write. Of the subjects who were confirmed to have CTS, a higher proportion also reported being overweight or obese (70 percent versus 47 percent in the rest of the respondents). The confirmed CTS was more likely to be found among blue-collar workers than white-collar workers (3.5 percent versus 1.7 percent) and among respondents who reported using excessive force with the hand during work for more than one hour per day compared with respondents who reported less frequent or no such use (5.4 percent versus 1.8 percent). "Estimation of CTS prevalence rates in the general population may contribute to early diagnosis and effective treatment of symptomatic subjects and provide useful data for the interpretation of results of studies that estimate CTS prevalence in specific occupational groups," the authors conclude. According to information cited in the study, CTS is a cause of pain, numbness and tingling in the hands and is a recognised cause of work disability. CTS constitutes a major part of the occupational upper-extremity disorders and is associated with considerable health care and indemnity costs. E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version