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Research Article|Articles in Press

A literature review of carpal tunnel syndrome and its association with body mass index, wrist ratio, wrist to palm ratio, and shape index

      Highlights

      • Certain anatomic variations such as body mass index (BMI), wrist ratio (WR), wrist to palm ratio (WPR), shape index (SI) may be accounted for as CTS risk factors.
      • BMI & WPR was significantly higher in patients with CTS than controls for both genders.
      • WR was significantly higher in both CTS males and females when compared to the healthy male and female controls.
      • No significant difference was found in the SI between CTS male patients and control male groups.

      Abstract

      Study design

      Systematic literature review of case-controlled studies.

      Introduction

      Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is one of the most common tubular neuropathies where certain anatomical variations may be accounted for as risk factors for CTS, including body mass index (BMI), wrist ratio (WR), wrist to palm ratio (WPR), shape index (SI), and digit length.

      Purpose of the Study

      To assess case-control studies examining the association between specific anatomical variations of the wrist as risk factors for developing CTS and whether this effect is the same for both genders.

      Methods

      The literature search was conducted between February-June 2020 through PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL Plus and PEDro. The literature search yielded 149 potential publications, fifteen of which were filtered in accordance with eligibility criteria. The methodological quality was assessed by using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Form for Case-Control Studies (NOS).

      Results

      The total number of subjects included in this review was n=4299. The largest sample was n=1117 participants and the smallest n=54. All studies included patients who had a clinical diagnosis of CTS confirmed with nerve conduction studies and or ultrasonography. CTS was significantly higher in patients with higher BMI, WR, WPR compared to control groups. BMI and WR were the only indicators that can be considered as strong risk factors.

      Conclusions

      Discussion: Despite the general patterns on the association of BMI, WPR, WR and SI as risk factors for the development of CTS, there were exceptions to the accepted results and conclusions. Conclusion: Clinicians are recommended to conduct more research to confirm anthropometric measurements as risk factors for the development of CTS, mainly SI and WPR. When determining the cut-off values for BMI and WR, it is recommended to take into account additional risk factors such as occupation.

      Keywords

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