The Effectiveness of Post-Offer Pre-placement Nerve Conduction Screening for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Dale, Ann Marie; Gardner, Bethany T.; Zeringue, Angelique; Werner, Robert; Franzblau, Alfred; Evanoff, Bradley

doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000000185

i

The Effectiveness of Post-Offer Pre-placement Nerve Conduction Screening for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Supporting Files

Aug 2014
By Dale, Ann Marie ; Gardner, Bethany T. ; Zeringue, Angelique ; ...

Details

Alternative Title:

J Occup Environ Med
Personal Author:

Dale, Ann Marie ; Gardner, Bethany T. ; Zeringue, Angelique ; Werner, Robert ; Franzblau, Alfred ; Evanoff, Bradley
Description:

Objective

We evaluated post-offer pre-placement (POPP) nerve conduction studies (NCS) for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), testing diagnostic yield and cost-effectiveness.

Methods

1027 newly hired workers underwent baseline NCS, and were followed for an average of 3.7 years for diagnosed CTS. Measures of diagnostic yield included sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV). Cost-effectiveness of POPP screening was evaluated using a range of inputs.

Results

Abnormal NCS was strongly associated with future CTS with univariate hazard ratios ranging from 2.95 to 11.25, depending on test parameters used. However, PPV was poor, 6.4–18.5%. Cost-effectiveness of POPP varied with CTS case costs, screening costs, and NCS thresholds.

Conclusions

Although abnormal NCS at hire increases risk of future CTS, the PPV is low, and POPP screening is not cost effective to employers in most scenarios tested.
Subjects:

Adult Article Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Cost-Benefit Analysis Cost Savings Female Humans Male Mass Screening Middle Aged Neural Conduction Occupational Health Predictive Value Of Tests Prospective Studies
Source:

J Occup Environ Med. 56(8):840-847.
Pubmed ID:

25099410
Pubmed Central ID:

PMC4127642
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

R01OH008017-01/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; UL1 TR000448/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United States ; UL1 TR000448/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United States
Volume:

56
Issue:

8
Collection(s):

CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:cb06f497dbab822045e0da507d8ffa070e840e0412190b7e845ea5aadb17b328
Download URL:

https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/30075/cdc_30075_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 268.49 KB ]

nihms580944.nxml

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