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Carpal tunnel syndrome is commonly encountered in primary care. This report from a large practice-based research network describes its diagnosis, treatment, and outcome as managed by primary care clinicians.
During a 30-month period, 254 clinicians in the network reported 924,261 patient visits that included 552 first visits for carpal tunnel syndrome, yielding an adjusted frequency of 0.68 cases per 1000 visits. There were more cases in women than in men; 43 percent of visits were job- related and 16 percent were made by homemakers.
Only 12 percent of patients had electromyography and only 13 percent had nerve conduction studies. The majority of patients were treated conservatively with splints (56 percent) or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory …