Prevalence and risk factors of tendinitis and related disorders of the distal upper extremity among US workers: Comparison to carpal tunnel syndrome

Background National estimates of tendinitis and related disorders of the di stal upper extremity among U.S. workers have not been available with the ex ception of carpal tunnel syndrome. Methods The Occupational Health Supplement Data of the 1988 National Health Interview Survey were analyzed for tendinitis and related disorders of the hand/wrist and elbow (distal upper extremity) using the Survey Data Analys is (SUDAAN) software. Results Among the 30,074 respondents (statistically weighted population of 127 million) who had worked anytime during the previous 12 months, 0.46% (9 5% CI: 0.36, 0.56) reported that they experienced a "prolonged" hand discom fort which was called tendinitis, synovitis, tenosynovitis, deQuervain's di sease, epicondylitis, ganglion cyst, or trigger finger, by a medical person . This corresponds to 588,000 persons (95% CI: 457,000; 712,000) reporting one of these disorders, 28% (or 164,000) of which were thought to be work-r elated by the medical person. Among various risk factors examined by multip le logistic regression analysis, bending/twisting of the hands/wrists at wo rk and female gender were significantly associated with reporting of these disorders. Conclusions By combining these cases with the previously reported cases of work related carpal tunnel syndrome, we estimate that there were approximat ely 520,000 cases of work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the distal u pper extremity among US workers in 1988. Published 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.(da gger)