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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

Year: 2025

Type: article

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.

Source: PLoS ONE

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0329324