Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common upper limb neuropathy that is caused by entrapment of the median nerve at the level of the wrist. The aim of this study was to determine the symptoms severity and functional status of CTS among medical students.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. All students were subjected to thorough medical history and the Boston Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Questionnaire, a disease-specific measure of self-assessment symptoms. Data were analyzed by using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences version 21 (IBM, Armonk, NY).
Results: A total of 319 participants were enrolled in this study wherein 125 (39.2%) were male and 194 (60.8%) were female with an age range of 17-27 years old (x̄ = 21.8 ± 1.6). A total of 122 were found to be mildly symptomatic with a prevalence of 38.2%. Only 08 (02.5%) were classified as moderate regarding Symptoms Severity Scale (SSS). There was a statistically significant correlation between SSS and gender and prolonged hand use.
Conclusion: We found that medical students are not considered as a high risk group. However, female medical students are at a higher risk than male students according to the severity scoring of CTS symptoms.
Key words: Carpal tunnel syndrome, Boston Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Questionnaire, symptoms severity scale, functional status scale
|
