Hand Function After an Electrical Accident—A Case-Control Study

Electrical accidents cause both acute and long-term injuries. The care of acute injuries is somewhat standardized, but currently recommendations or assessment tools are not available for assessing the long-term effects of an accident on hand function. METHODS: A case-control study of 24 healthy controls and 24 cases, 1 to 5 years after an electrical accident and with self-reported neurosensory symptoms, was performed using three hand-function tests: the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand questionnaire, the Purdue Pegboard test, and the Shape and Texture Identification test. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, patients received statistically significantly lower scores for the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand outcome measure and the Purdue Pegboard and for one finger on the Shape and Texture Identification test. CONCLUSION: Hand function is affected after an electrical accident in individuals with self-reported neurosensory symptoms.