Clinical and electrophysiological evaluation of carpel tunnel syndrome in diabetes mellitus to assess association of age, gender and duration of diabetes on median neuropathy at wrist

Context: CTS is commonest entrapment neuropathy in upper limbs. Prevalence of median neuropathy at wrist in diabetes mellitus (DM) is affected by certain non-modifiable risk factors like age, sex, duration of diabetes, body mass index etc. Objectives: To assess association of age, gender and duration of diabetes on prevalence of median neuropathy at wrist in diabetic population. Methodology: Present study is a hospital based cross-sectional study. 53 type-2 DM patients underwent clinical and EDX evaluation during January 2009 to December 2010 at a rural hospital in central India. Case-to-case diagnosis of CTS was done using standard reference values. Palm wrist comparison studies were incorporated to increase diagnostic sensitivity. Data was analyzed using Graph-Pad Prism software. Results: CTS in diabetic population was 16.98%, 15.09% and 24.53% with clinical assessment, routine EDX tests and comparison EDX tests respectively. Statistically significant (p 0.05). Conclusion: Median neuropathy at wrist was more prevalent in females of older age in diabetic population. We suggest mandatory inclusion of palm-wrist median versus ulnar comparison studies for early diagnosis of median neuropathy at wrist.