TM: Incidence and determinants of carpal tunnel decompression surgery in type 2 diabetes: the Fremantle Diabetes Study. Diabetes Care 2008

To examine the incidence and predictors of carpal tunnel decompression (CTD) in community-based patients with type 2 diabetes, we studied 1,284 type 2 participants (mean±SD age 64.1±6.1 years, 49.1 % males) in the longitudinal observational Fremantle Diabetes Study (FDS) who had no history of CTD. Sixty-seven (5.8%) had a first CTD during 12,109 (mean 9.4±3.7) years of follow-up, an incidence of 5.5/1,000 patient-years. This was at least 4.2 times the incidence in the general population (P < 0.001). In Cox proportional hazards analysis, significant independent determinants of first-ever CTD were higher body mass index, taking lipid-lowering medication and being in a stable relationship (P ≤ 0.021). The crude incidence of first CTD is increased in type 2 diabetes and is associated with obesity and socio-demographic/treatment factors that could indicate treatment-seeking behaviour that includes CTD in symptomatic patients.- 3-Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the commonest entrapment neuropathy complicating diabetes (1), with an incidence several-fold that in the general population (1-3). Based on clinical/electrophysiological assessment (4), one-third of type 2 patients have CTS an