Value of Boston Questionnaire in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Abstract

Objectives: The Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) is a patient-based outcome measure that has been developed for patients with Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between BCTQ scores and electrophysiological findings in patients with CTS. Subjects and Methods: This study included 174 individuals (control group [n = 68] and patient group [n = 106]) admitted to Erciyes University Hospital Department of Neurology between August 2019 and November 2019 with complaints of pain, numbness, and paresthesia in the unilateral or bilateral median nerve trace and diagnosed with idiopathic CTS or normal after electrophysiological testing. The Turkish version of the BCTQ was applied to these patients. Results: The mean age of the participants was 46.6 (standard deviation ± 11.9). One hundred and fifty-seven (90.2%) of all the participants were female. Among patients, 29.9% (n = 52) had mild, 21.8% (n = 38) had moderate, and 9.2% (n = 16) had severe CTS. Both the Symptom Severity Scale (SSS) and functional status scale (FSS) scores were evaluated between the groups, and there was a significant difference between the groups (P < 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively). Although there was a significant difference between the groups, the huge overlap in the distribution of the scores indicated that discrimination of an individual according to FSS/SSS scores is unrealistic in the clinical setting. Conclusion: The BCTQ will not be sufficient and objective in the diagnosis and management of CTS. Today, electrophysiological tests are still the gold standard for the diagnosis of CTS, and referring the patient to the electromyography EMG laboratory is necessary for early diagnosis and determining the effective treatment method.