A Review of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Its Association with Age, Body Mass Index, Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Hand Dominance, and Sex

Abstract

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is one of the most common compressive, canalicular neuropathies of the upper extremities, causing hand pain and impaired function. CTS results from compression or injury of the median nerve at the wrist within the confines of the carpal tunnel. Parameters such as age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) could be risk factors for CTS. This research work aimed to review the existing literature regarding the relationship between CTS and possible risk factors, such as age, sex, BMI, dominant hand, abdominal circumference, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and cardiac rate to determine which ones are the most influential, and therefore, take them into account in subsequent applied research in the manufacturing industry. We performed a literature search in the PubMed, EBSCO, and ScienceDirect databases using the following keywords: carpal tunnel syndrome AND (age OR sex OR BMI OR handedness OR abdominal circumference OR respiratory rate OR blood pressure OR cardiac rate). We chose 72 articles by analyzing the literature found based on selection criteria. We concluded that CTS is associated with age, female sex, and high BMI. Trends and future challenges have been proposed to delve into the relationship between risk factors and CTS, such as correlation studies on pain reduction, analysis of weight changes to predict the severity of this pathology, and its influence on clinical treatments.