Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a musculoskeletal disorder resulting from the local compression of the median nerve at the wrist, which results in a subsequent functional impairment and local ischemia of the nerve within the tunnel. Thereby, this study aimed to find the prevalence of CTS among surgeons at Makkah hospitals and determine the factors that are associated with the development of CTS among Makkah hospital surgeons.
Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted among the surgical doctors working at public hospitals in Makkah Mukarramah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from 1st of March 2019 to 31st of August 2019. 86 participants were investigated, entered and analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) software program version (24).
Results: The prevalence of CTS symptoms among surgeons at Makkah hospitals was 53.5%, those with 3-4 times physical activity per week were significantly at higher risk as compared to other groups (p = 0.034). Other associated factors such as gender, age, and body mass index groups, specialty, level, years of experience, shift duration, on-call duties, number of surgeries per week, number of hours in OR showed no significant difference. Neither dealing with microscopic/laparoscopic procedures nor the presence of any chronic disease being statistically significant. Taking any medication, smoking, family history of congenital diseases also showed no statistical significance.
Conclusion: The prevalence of CTS symptoms among surgeons at Makkah hospitals was high. Those surgeons, who were physically more active, were more likely to develop CTS than others were. The role of physical activity needs to be more investigated in future studies.
Key words: Carpal tunnel syndrome, Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire, musculoskeletal disorder, surgical doctors.
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