Case-control Study on Individual Risk Factors of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), or median neuropathy at the wrist, is a medical condition in which the median nerve is compressed at the wrist, leading to paresthesia, numbness and muscle weakness in the hand. It's the most common neuro-compressive disease. With the development of the modern life, the morbidity of CTS is also raised. As a common disease, the study on etiology is very important in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which can improve the life quality of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. The risk factors include individual factors such as age, gender, diabetes, Hypothyroidism, obesity, complication of systematic diseases, tobacco, injury and occupational factors.

As most of the research were based on the population in western country and the life style and the ethnicity between Chinese people and western country people is quite different, there may be some similarities and differences in epidemiology. There is seldom similar research in China so that this study was conducted to observe the characteristics of these risk factors in Chinese population.