Surveillance of work-related carpal tunnel syndrome in Korea

Woo Chul Jeong; Ho Jang Kwon; Mina Ha; Sang Chul Roh; Beom Seon Kwon; Jeong Gun Hyun; Seong Jae Lee; Jong Min Lee; Jeong Yi Kwon; Jun Seong Kim; Nam Jong Baek; Ho Lee; Kyng Woo Lee; Sam Kyu Lee

doi:10.35371/kjoem.2004.16.1.37

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Original Article Surveillance of work-related carpal tunnel syndrome in Korea: Woo Chul Jeong, Ho Jang Kwon, Mina Ha, Sang Chul Roh, Beom Seon Kwon, Jeong Gun Hyun, Seong Jae Lee, Jong Min Lee, Jeong Yi Kwon, Jun Seong Kim, Nam Jong Baek, Ho Lee, Kyng Woo Lee, Sam Kyu Lee; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.2004.16.1.37
Published online: March 31, 2004

¹Department of Occupational Medicine, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Korea.

²Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Korea. hojang@dku.edu

³Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Korea.

⁴Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine, Dongkook Univeristy, Korea.

⁵Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Korea.

⁶Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul national University, Korea.

⁷Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine, Soonchunhayng University, Korea.

⁸Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine, Donga University, Korea.

⁹Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine, Jeonnam National University, Korea.

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Abstract

OBJECTIVES
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is one of the most important work related musculo-skeletal diseases in Korea. However, there are few epidemiologic studies on the work-related CTS (WR-CTS). This study aimed to investigate the epidemiologic characteristics of WR-CTS in Korea.
METHODS
Data obtained from the"CTS Surveillance System". Physician case-reports in the surveillance were used to document patterns of WR-CTS by age, gender, occupation, sign, symptom, working history.
RESULTS
Six hundred and seventy-two cases of WR-CTS were ascertained. of which 314 with complete information on occupational history were analyzed. It has been estimated that as many as 72% of all CTS cases are work-related. The highest proportion of WR-CTS was observed in 'elementary occupation workers', followed by 'skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers'. The distributions of WR-CTS cases were similar with respect to age, obesity, and past medical history. The proportion of WR-CTS was higher in females. There was no significant difference in physical examination findings between WR-CTS and non WR-CTS cases. Repetitive work and the inappropriate hand posture seemed to be the risks for WR-CTS.
CONCLUSION
WR-CTS is a significant public health problem. The CTS surveillance system is quite useful to elucidate the characteristics of WR-CTS, but it remains of limited use in targeting specific industries and occupations for intervention.

Keywords: Work relatedness;Carpal tunnel syndrome;Surveillance

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