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Is arthritis an associated risk factor for trigger finger occurrence after carpal tunnel release? A nationwide, population-based study in Korea

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Abstract

Purpose

We hypothesized that increased friction between the flexor tendon and surrounding structures due to hand arthritis is an important risk factor for trigger finger (TF) after carpal tunnel release (CTR). Therefore, we compared TF development according to the presence or absence of arthritis in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) patients treated with CTR.

Methods

This retrospective study was based on data collected from the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort (NHIS-NSC) in the Republic of Korea between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2015. Patients diagnosed with TF between one month and one year after the CTR date or with a history of surgery were included in the study. During subsequent follow-up, the patients were divided into subgroups of those (1) with TF and (2) without TF. Sex, age, arthritis, and TF-related comorbidities were compared between the subgroups.

Results

The subgroup with TF had a higher proportion of women (9.43% vs 90.57%), the highest age range between 50 and 59 years, more cases of arthritis (32.55% vs 16.79%), and a higher proportion of patients with hypothyroidism (10.85% vs 4.60%) than the group without TF. The association between arthritis and TF after CTR was examined using a multivariate logistic regression model, showing arthritis to be a significant risk factor for TF after CTR (odds ratio, 1.35; P = 0.049).

Conclusions

We identified arthritis as an important risk factor for the development of TF after CTR.

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Author notes

  1. Young Sun An and Jong Won Gil contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Eulji University College of Medicine, 1306 Dunsan-dong, Seo-gu, Daejeon, 35233, Korea

    Young Sun An, Sang Ki Lee & Taeho Oh

  2. Division of Medical Radiation, Bureau of Healthcare Safety and Immunization, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Cheongju, Korea

    Jong Won Gil

  3. Department of Radiological Science, Hallym Polytechnic University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea

    Sun Youl Seo

Authors
  1. Young Sun An
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  2. Jong Won Gil
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  3. Sang Ki Lee
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  4. Taeho Oh
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  5. Sun Youl Seo
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Contributions

Conceptualization: YSA and SKL. Data curation: JWG. Formal analysis: YSA, JWG, and SKL. Methodology: YSA, JWG, and TO. Writing—original draft: YSA. Writing—review and editing: YSA and SKL.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sang Ki Lee.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

The institutional review board of our hospital approved the design and protocol of this study (EMC 2023-03-016). The requirement for informed consent was waived owing to the retrospective design of the study.

Consent to participate

Informed consent of patients was obtained from all individual participants included in the study and waived due to the retrospective design of the study.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Level of evidence: III, retrospective cohort study

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An, Y.S., Gil, J.W., Lee, S.K. et al. Is arthritis an associated risk factor for trigger finger occurrence after carpal tunnel release? A nationwide, population-based study in Korea. International Orthopaedics (SICOT) 48, 1065–1070 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-023-06079-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-023-06079-z

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