HAND ABNORMALITIES ARE STRONGLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE DURATION OF DIABETES-MELLITUS

Objectives. To study the prevalence of hand abnormalities in diabetic patients and to evaluate associations between the hand abnormalities a nd diabetic variables, ergonomic factors and smoking habits. Design. C ross-sectional study of 100 patients selected at random. Setting. Out- patient clinic, Department of Internal Medicine, Orebro Medical Centre Hospital in Sweden. Main outcome measures. Presence and extent of car pal tunnel syndrome (CTS), Dupuytren's contracture (DC ), flexor tenos ynovitis (FTS), and limited joint mobility (LJM). Duration of diabetes , metabolic control, chronic diabetic complications, blood pressure, e rgonomic factors and smoking habits. Results. Carpal tunnel syndrome, DC, FTS and LJM were each present in about 20% of the patients. Hand a bnormalities were observed in 50 patients and more than one abnormalit y was found in 26 of the patients. The hand abnormalities were associa ted with the duration of diabetes but not with the metabolic control o r with other diabetic complications. However, the diabetic complicatio ns were associated with bad metabolic control and with the duration of diabetes. Hand abnormalities correlated with heavy manual work but no t with smoking habits. Twenty-five of the 50 patients with hand syndro mes were disabled to such an extent that surgery was recommended. Conc lusion. The prevalence of hand abnormalities in diabetic patients is h igh and increases with the duration of diabetes. In many cases patient s with hand abnormalities can be helped by surgery.