Prevalence of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) among medical laboratory staff at King Saud University Hospitals, KSA

Background Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a group of symptoms resulting from local compression of the median nerve at the wrist leading to subsequent functional impairment and local ischemia of the median nerve. Occupations that involve repetitive hand movements carry a great risk for developing CTS and laboratory occupations fall under this category. We decided to investigate in this topic due to its absence in the Saudi health literature. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of CTS in the laboratory workers of KSU hospitals by using selfadministered Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire. It was also intended to determine the most commonly reported symptoms, the important independent risk variables included in the development of CTS including age, sex, BMI, years of employment, work pattern, and working hours per week.