The strain index (SI) and threshold limit value (TLV) for hand activity level (HAL): risk of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in a prospective cohort

Details

• Personal Author:
  Deckow-Schaefer G ; Garg, Arun ; Hegmann K ; Kapellusch J ; Malloy EJ ; Merryweather A ; Wertsch J
• Description:
  A cohort of 536 workers was enrolled from 10 diverse manufacturing facilities and was followed monthly for six years. Job physical exposures were individually measured. Worker demographics, medical history, psychosocial factors, current musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and nerve conduction studies (NCS) were obtained. Point and lifetime prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) at baseline (symptoms + abnormal NCS) were 10.3% and 19.8%. During follow-up, there were 35 new CTS cases (left, right or both hands). Factors predicting development of CTS included: job physical exposure (American conference of governmental industrial hygienists Threshold Limit Value (ACGIH TLV) for Hand Activity Level (HAL) and the Strain Index (SI)), age, BMI, other MSDs, inflammatory arthritis, gardening outside of work and feelings of depression. In the adjusted models, the TLV for HAL and the SI were both significant per unit increase in exposure with hazard ratios (HR) increasing up to a maximum of 5.4 (p = 0.05) and 5.3 (p = 0.03), respectively; however, similar to other reports, both suggested lower risk at higher exposures. Data suggest that the TLV for HAL and the SI are useful metrics for estimating exposure to biomechanical stressors. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: This study was conducted to determine how well the TLV for HAL and the SI predict risk of CTS using a prospective cohort design with survival analysis. Both the TLV for HAL and the SI were found to predict risk of CTS when adjusted for relevant covariates. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biomechanical Phenomena Demography Ergonomics Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Safety

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• Keywords:
  Analytical-instruments Analytical-models Author Keywords: Epidemiology Biomechanics Carpal-tunnel-syndrome Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Cohort Demographic-characteristics Employee-exposure Force Hand-injuries Industrial-factory-workers Medical-monitoring Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Nerve-function Physiological-measurements Repetitive-work Risk-analysis Strain Index Stress Threshold-limit-values TLV For HAL

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• ISSN:
  0014-0139
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement ; Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 8 ; Utah ; Wisconsin
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  396-414
• Volume:
  55
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20041045
• Citation:
  Ergonomics 2012 Apr; 55(4):396-414
• Contact Point Address:
  A. Garg, Center for Ergonomics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA
• Email:
  arun@uwm.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• Performing Organization:
  University of Wisconsin
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20020930
• Source Full Name:
  Ergonomics
• End Date:
  20100929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c4df96d44abe57b253bade55805b588bd51b634114f3f4aad8b9366fdbae71d35196d87854b59da8179d414b478f564549bd9b7c279fcfbbd91e952d6f33fc5b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/193708/cdc_193708_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 583.21 KB ]