Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Among Sudanese Females: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common entrapment neuropathy resulting from compression of the median nerve. This condition is more common in females than in males. The earlier the diagnosis, the better the prognosis and treatment outcomes.

Material and methods: This is a cross-sectional hospital-based study conducted at Soba Teaching Hospital in obstetrics and gynecology outpatient clinic in Khartoum in the period from February 2022 to March 2022. A simple random sampling was applied, and an interview was conducted using a four-part questionnaire. The first part was based on socio-demographic data, the second was lifestyle, and the third and fourth were based on the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ). The data were analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software, version 23 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) to find the correlation between the various variables.

Results: A total of 113 women participated in the study (response rate=100%). The prevalence of CTS was found to be 5%. No significant association was found between lifestyle and medical history, e.g., obesity and oral contraceptives and CTS were p=0.167, 0.841 respectively. Conversely, there was a significant association between age and residency, with p=0.005 and 0.049, respectively.

Conclusions: The prevalence of CTS is increasing in Sudan. Therefore, it is essential to thoroughly assess patients for any symptoms related to hand pain by asking detailed questions during consultations. In addition, further studies covering more states are needed to better understand the regional variation in CTS prevalence.