Relationship of Age, Body Mass Index, Wrist and Waist Circumferences to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Severity

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) has a multifactorial etiology involving systemic, anatomical, idiopathic, and ergonomic characteristics. In this study, an investigation of the relationship between the CTS degree established by electrophysiological measurements in patients with clinical CTS prediagnosis, and age, gender, body mass index (BMI), hand wrist circumference, and waist circumference measurements has been done. On 547 patients included in the study, motor and sensory conduction examinations of the median and ulnar nerve were done on one or two upper extremities thought to have CTS. In terms of CTS severity, the patients were divided into four groups (normal, mild, medium, and severe CTS). A total of 843 electrophysiological examinations were done consisting of 424 on the right hand wrist and 419 on the left hand wrist. When the age group of 18–35 years is taken as the reference group, the CTS development risk independent of BMI has been found to have increased by a factor of 1.86 for ages 36–64 years, and by 4.17 for ages 65 years and higher after adjustment for BMI. With respect to normal degree CTS group, the BMI were significantly different in groups with mild, medium, and severe CTS. The waist circumferences of groups with mild, medium, and severe CTS severity were found to be significantly higher in comparison to the normal reference group. When this value was corrected with BMI and re-examined the statistically significant differences persisted. The study identified a significant relationship between the CTS severity and age, BMI, waist circumference.