RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Occupational risk factors for work disability following carpal tunnel syndrome: a pooled prospective study JF Occupational and Environmental Medicine JO Occup Environ Med FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd SP 442 OP 451 DO 10.1136/oemed-2021-107771 VO 79 IS 7 A1 Carisa Harris-Adamson A1 Ellen A Eisen A1 Jay Kapellusch A1 Kurt T Hegmann A1 Matthew S Thiese A1 Ann-Marie Dale A1 Bradley Evanoff A1 Alysha Rose Meyers A1 Stephen Bao A1 Fred Gerr A1 Niklas Krause A1 David Rempel YR 2022 UL http://oem.bmj.com/content/79/7/442.abstract AB Background Although recent studies have identified important risk factors associated with incident carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), risk factors associated with its severity have not been well explored.Objective To examine the associations between personal, workplace psychosocial and biomechanical factors and incident work disability among workers with CTS.Methods Between 2001 and 2010 five research groups conducted coordinated prospective studies of CTS and related work disability among US workers from various industries. Workers with prevalent or incident CTS (N=372) were followed for up to 6.4 years. Incident work disability was measured as: (1) change in work pace or work quality, (2) lost time or (3) job change following the development of CTS. Psychosocial factors were assessed by questionnaire. Biomechanical exposures were assessed by observation and measurements and included force, repetition, duty cycle and posture. HRs were estimated using Cox models.Results Disability incidence rates per 100 person-years were 33.2 for changes in work pace or quality, 16.3 for lost time and 20.0 for job change. There was a near doubling of risk for job change among those in the upper tertile of the Hand Activity Level Scale (HR 2.17; 95% CI 1.17 to 4.01), total repetition rate (HR 1.75; 95% CI 1.02 to 3.02), % time spent in all hand exertions (HR 2.20; 95% CI 1.21 to 4.01) and a sixfold increase for high job strain. Sensitivity analyses indicated attenuation due to inclusion of the prevalent CTS cases.Conclusion Personal, biomechanical and psychosocial job factors predicted CTS-related disability. Results suggest that prevention of severe disability requires a reduction of both biomechanical and organisational work stressors.Data are available on reasonable request. Individuals or groups who would like to use the dataset to address specific scientific questions must provide a proposal to the ULMSD Consortium for full consideration. For more information, please email carisa.harris-adamson@ucsf.edu.