Work-related carpal tunnel syndrome (WR-CTS) in Massachusetts, 1992-1997: source of WR-CTS, outcomes, and employer intervention practices

Details

• Personal Author:
  Davis, Letitia ; Dewey R ; Punnett, Laura ; Wellman H ; Davis, Letitia ; Dewey R ; Punnett, Laura ; Wellman H
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: The Massachusetts Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks (MASS SENSOR) receives reports of work-related carpal tunnel syndrome (WR-CTS) cases from (1) workers' compensation (WC) disability claims for 5 or more lost work days; and (2) physician reports (PR). METHODS: From 1992 through 1997, 1,330 WC cases and 571 PR cases completed follow-back surveys to provide information on industry, occupation, attributed source of WR-CTS, outcomes, and employer intervention practices. RESULTS: Sixty-four percent of the respondents had bilateral CTS and 61% had surgery, both of which were proportionally more frequent among WC cases. Office and business machinery was the leading source of WR-CTS (42% of classifiable sources) in every economic sector except construction, followed by hand tools (20%). Managers and professional specialty workers were the most likely to report employers' interventions and were up to four times more likely to report equipment or work environment changes than higher risk groups. CONCLUSIONS: State-based surveillance data on the source of WR-CTS provided valuable information on how and where to implement interventions. New occurrences of WR-CTS are likely, especially in the highest risk industries where very few cases reported primary prevention measures (e.g., changes to equipment or work environment) implemented by their employers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cumulative Trauma Disorders Diagnosis Epidemiology Health Personnel Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Work-related Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Carpal-tunnel-syndrome Clinical-diagnosis Cumulative-trauma-disorders Equipment-design Hand-injuries Hand-tools Health-surveys Humans Industrial-equipment Injuries Interventions Lost-work-days Machine-operators Management-personnel Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Office-equipment Outcomes Physicians Professional-workers Questionnaires Risk-factors Source Surgery Surveillance Surveillance-programs Work-environment Work-operations Work-practices Worker-health

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  139-152
• Volume:
  45
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20041924
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2004 Feb; 45(2):139-152
• Contact Point Address:
  Helen.Wellman, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, MA, USA
• Email:
  Helen.Wellman@LibertyMutual.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts Department of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19880415
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20050929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:136223fe4ecf2888256a862535baef394357f0413ad28edc96f04f427a539e3f37570e029c3f7c4765cb5f23349c34dc029cdc5518d173f6bab4016df67296ce
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194335/cdc_194335_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 155.58 KB ]