Investigating the association between diabetes and carpal tunnel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis approach.

Introduction: In recent years, several studies have reported on the relationship between diabetes and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). However, due to their contradictory results, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to investigate this subject.
Methods: This study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies published in ISI Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Cochrane, Google Scholar, and Embase databases. Heterogeneity in the studies included in the meta-analysis was evaluated using statistical tests such as the Chi-square test, I2, and forest plots. Publication bias was assessed using Begg's and Egger's tests.
Results: This investigation analyzed data from 42 studies conducted between 1985 and 2022, with a total of 3,377,816 participants. The meta-analysis demonstrated that the odds ratio (OR) of CTS in participants with a history of diabetes compared to those without was 1.90 (95% CI: 1.64-2.21; P-value < 0.001). Given that publication bias was observed in this study (Begg's test P-value = 0.01), the modified OR was calculated with consideration of missed studies, which was 1.68 (95% CI: 1.45-1.94; P-value < 0.001).
Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that diabetic patients have 90% higher odds of developing CTS compared to non-diabetic individuals, which is statistically significant.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Sanjari et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)