Lifestyle Correlates of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

The potential for predicting membership in a Carpal Tunnel Syndrome group (CTS) vs. a non-CTS group was evaluated for five psychological variables (i.e., life events stress, perceived stress, self-management habits, cognitive self-control skills, and lifestyle organization) and three physical variables (i.e., general physical symptoms, suspected medical risk for CTS, and generic musculoskeletal problems). The subjects included 50 pairs of workers, with each pair having one worker who had CTS and the other who had not. A logistic regression analysis indicated that five of the measures (three psychological and two physical) were significant single model predictors of membership in CTS and non-CTS groups. The most efficient multifactor model in predicting CTS appeared to be a combination of measures reflecting generic musculoskeletal problems and lifestyle organization.