Pain as a determinant of health-related quality of life in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome; a case-controlled study

Introduction: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is an entrapment neuropathy accounting for up to 90% of nerve compression syndromes. It causes both positive and negative symptoms in the hands. These symptoms, especially pain, can be debilitating, which can in turn have a negative effect on patients’ quality of life (QoL). The aim of this cross-sectional case-controlled study was two-fold; to compare the QoL of patients with CTS and subjects without CTS and to determine the effect of pain on QoL in patients with CTS.Methods: All patients underwent nerve conduction studies (NCS) and were classified into mild, moderate, severe. QoL was assessed via the SF-36 questionnaire.Results: Fifty-one patients and 45 age- and gender-matched controls were recruited. Prevalence of pain (determined as scoring 4 or above on a visual analog scale) in CTS was 39.2%. CTS patient health-related QOL scores were significantly reduced (p < 0.001) across all of the SF-36 domains, compared to the healthy control group scores. After adjusting for gender presence of pain was still significantly negatively correlated with scores for physical functioning (beta −0.283, p = 0.036).Conclusions: Patients with CTS have a significantly worse QoL compared to subjects without CTS. In addition, the presence of pain is a significant determinant of physical functioning in patients who have been diagnosed with CTS.