Carpal tunnel syndrome: a case-control study evaluating its relationship with body mass index and hand and wrist measurements

Abstract

This case-control study investigated the associations between the body mass index (BMI), hand and wrist measurements and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The hands and wrists of 50 patients with CTS and 50 age- and sex-matched controls were measured. The right and left wrist indices (wrist depth/wrist width) were significantly greater in CTS patients (mean = 0.71. SD = 0.04) than in the controls (mean = 0.69 SD = 0.04). The hand index (hand length/palm width) and BMI were not significantly different in the two groups. The hand, but not the wrist, index was found to correlate with the BMI. These results provide some support for a causative association between wrist morphometry, as measured by the wrist index, and CTS, but this difference is too small to be of diagnostic value in clinical or epidemiological practice. The results could also suggest that the previously reported association between CTS and the hand index may be secondary to differences in the BMI.