Association of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome with Body Mass Index among University Students

Abstract

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused due to the compression of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel1, it is one of the most prevalent upper extremity neuropathies. Individuals with this syndrome commonly complain of pain, paraesthesia, altered sensory perception, and hand and wrist weakness, which impairs daily activities and diminishes physical function. Objective: Evaluate the association of carpal tunnel syndrome with body mass index among university students. Method: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on female students of the University of Lahore and the University of Gujrat. Students were selected with different BMIs and ages between 18 to 30 years while data were collected by using a standardized questionnaire and by performing the Phalen test whereas BMI was checked by using weight in kilograms divided by height in meter square. However students with a history of hand trauma, radius/ulna or wrist fracture or injuries in last 3 months and those who had comorbidities previously undergone surgery to the shoulder inflammatory arthritis in last 3 months and congenital deformities were excluded.Ethical approval was taken from Institutional Review Board (IRB) of The University of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. A consent was taken from the participants before collecting data. Ensured that data would be used for only research purpose. The research project was approved by research and ethical committee of University of Lahore. Data were collected from females of university of Lahore and university of gujrat and by evaluating the carpal tunnel syndrome in university females by phalens test and boston questionnaire. For descriptive analysis, mean and standard deviation were calculated for quantitative variables whereas frequencies and percentages were calculated for qualitative variables. For inferential statistics, a chi-square test was applied. Results: The study's results show that  mean age of participants (years) is 22.30±2.04, body mass index of participants (kg/m²) is 20.36±2.63. Conclusion: It is concluded that there is no association between body mass index classes with p-value. As p-value shown in the results was 0.389. Therefore, both have no effects on each other, while body mass index and Phalen's test have very weak positive co-relation with each other with p-value of 0.045.