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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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 08, 2022
Accepted:
March 10,
2022
Received in revised form:
December 3,
2021
Received:
May 23,
2021
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.