USE OF OUTCOME INSTRUMENTS TO COMPARE WORKERS COMPENSATION AND NON-WORKERS COMPENSATION CARPAL-TUNNEL SYNDROME

Validated outcome instruments were used to compare treatment outcomes of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in workers' compensation and non-worke rs' compensation patients. A self-administered questionnaire consistin g of the generic Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Surv ey (SF-36) and the disease-specific Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Instrument was mailed to 277 patients randomly selected from all 1050 new patient s treated for CTS during a 1-year period. A total of 212 patients (61 workers' compensation and 151 non-workers' compensation) responded to the survey 7-22 (mean, 14) months after the initiation of treatment, y ielding a response rate of 76%. Workers' compensation patients had wor se mean scores than non-workers' compensation patients in 6 of the 8 S F-36 scales and in the 2 Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Instrument scales, but validating multivariate analysis could not verify significant score d ifferences in any of the scales. Thus, this study could not demonstrat e inferior treatment outcomes of CTS in workers' compensation patients as measured by standardized generic and disease-specific outcome inst ruments.