Distribution of age, gender, and occupation among individuals with carpal tunnel syndrome based on the National Health Insurance data and National Employment Insurance data

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to investigate the basic characteristics of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and its differences between occupations using Korea's National Health Insurance (NHI) and National Employment Insurance (NEI). METHODS: The study participants were obtained from the NEI and NHI data from 2008 to 2015, with a diagnosis code of G560 (CTS) as the main or sub-diagnosis. Data about gender, age, diabetes mellitus, smoking, drinking, and length of employment, information about type of occupation, and number of employees according to age and occupation were obtained from NHI and NEI data. In total, 240 occupations were classified into blue-collar (BC) and white-collar (WC) work. In addition, each occupation was classified as high-risk and low-risk groups depending on the degree of wrist usage. RESULTS: The number of patients with CTS per 100,000 individuals increased with advancing age, and it was higher in women (4,572.2) than in men (1,798.5). Furthermore, the number was higher in BC workers (3,247.5) than in WC workers (1,824.1) as well as in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group in both BC workers (3,527.8 vs. 1,908.2) and WC workers (1,829.9 vs. 1,754.4). The number of patients with CTS was higher in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group among male and female BC workers and female WC workers. However, the number was higher in the low-risk group among male WC workers. In the BC category, the number of patients with CTS was highest among food processing-related workers (19,984.5). In the WC category, the number of patients with CTS was highest among social workers and counselors (7,444.1). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study are expected to help identify occupational differences in patterns of CTS. High number of patients with CTS was seen in new jobs, as well as in previous studies.