Carpal tunnel syndrome and occupational co-exposure to biomechanical factors and neurotoxic chemicals using job-exposure matrices and self-reported exposure: Findings from the Constances cohort

Abstract

Objective To study the association between occupational co-exposure to biomechanical risk factors, potentially neurotoxic chemicals and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in a large cohort of French workers, using two methods to estimate chemical exposure: job-exposure matrices (JEM) and self-reported exposure. Methods A randomly selected sample of adults were included between 2012 and 2018 in the French cohort CONSTANCES. Self-reported CTS was assessed using the first self-administered follow-up questionnaire, sent out approximately one year after baseline. Occupational exposure to biomechanical risk factors was assessed using self-administered questionnaire completed at inclusion. Lifetime occupational exposure to chemicals was assessed using two different methods: with JEMs and with a self-administered questionnaire completed at inclusion. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between co-exposure to biomechanical risk factors and chemicals and CTS, adjusted for personal and medical factors and stratified by gender. Results For the analysis using JEM assessment, 35,941 workers (16,920 men and 19,021 women) were included: 261 men (1.5%) and 469 women (2.5%) declared having CTS at follow-up. There was an association between CTS and the co-exposure group: OR=2.37 [1.60–3.44] in men and OR=2.09 [1.55–2.77] in women, compared to the non-exposed group. For the self-reported chemicals analysis, 42,168 workers (20,877 men and 21,291 women) were included: 338 men (1.6%) and 532 women (2.5%) declared having CTS at follow-up. There was an association between CTS and the co-exposure group: OR=3.07 [2.28–4.08] in men and OR=2.68 [1.91–3.66] in women, compared to the non-exposed group. Conclusions The study showed an association between self- reported CTS and co-exposure to biomechanical risk factors and chemicals. This finding should be confirmed using more objective case definition of CTS, e.g. carpal tunnel release surgery.