Postoffer pre-placement screening for carpal tunnel syndrome in newly hired manufacturing workers

Ann Marie Dale, Bethany T. Gardner, Skye Buckner-Petty, Jaime R. Strickland, Bradley Evanoff

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: We determined the predictive validity of a postoffer pre-placement (POPP) screen using nerve conduction velocity studies (NCV) to identify future cases of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Methods: A cohort of 1648 newly hired manufacturing production workers underwent baseline NCS, and were followed for 5 years. Results: There was no association between abnormal POPP NCV results and incident CTS. Varying NCV diagnostic cut-offs did not improve predictive validity. Workers in jobs with high hand/ wrist exposure showed greater risk of CTS than those in low exposed jobs (relative risk 2.82; 95%confidence interval 1.52 to 5.22). Conclusions: POPP screening seems ineffective as a preventive strategy for CTS.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1212-1216
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of occupational and environmental medicine
Volume58
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016

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