The prevalence and characteristics of nerve compression symptoms in the general population

Abstract

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the prevalence and intensity of nerve compression symptoms and to estimate the prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in the general population. A survey that included the Katz hand diagram, the Carpal Tunnel Instrument (CTI), and the Short Form-36 questionnaire was sent to 1,559 people. A short telephone survey was conducted to a random sample of 110 nonresponders to determine if they were systematically different from the responders. Of the responders 35.1% had a symptom severity (CTI subscale) score of > or =1.5. Of the responders and the nonresponders 23.2% and 14.5%, respectively, reported waking at least once per night with numbness; 37.3% of the responders and 33.6% of the nonresponders experienced pain in the hand at least once per day. As determined by the Katz hand diagrams, 58 (16.3%) of the responders had classic or probable distributions of symptoms (likely to have CTS) and 298 (83.7%) had possible and unlikely distributions. After correcting for nonresponders our lowest possible estimate of CTS prevalence in the general US population is 3.72%, indicating a larger pool of symptomatic people than previously reported.