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Prevalence of cold sensitivity in patients with hand pathology

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HAND

Abstract

Background

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of cold sensitivity in patients with hand- and wrist-related diagnoses.

Methods

We included English-speaking adults who were more than 1 month following hand injury or onset of symptoms. Patients were asked if exposure to cold air or water provoked cold-related symptoms and to rank symptom severity (scale 0–10). Statistical analyses evaluated the relationships between the cold sensitivity and independent variables (age, gender, history of trauma, and time from injury/symptoms).

Results

There were 197 patients (mean age 49 ± 16 years): 98 trauma and 99 non-trauma cases. Cold-induced symptoms were reported by 34 %, with 10 % reporting severe symptoms. Exposure to cold air is the most common catalyst; mean severity score was 6.7 ± 2.2. Those with traumatic injuries compared to non-trauma diagnoses reported significantly more cold-induced symptoms (p = .04). Using backward linear regression, the significant predictors of cold symptom severity were trauma (p = .004) and time since onset (p = .003). Including only the trauma patients in the regression model, the significant predictor was time since injury (p = .005).

Conclusions

Cold-induced symptoms are reported by more than 30 % of hand-related diagnoses, and exposure to cold air was the most commonly reported trigger. The significant predictors of cold-induced symptoms are traumatic injuries and longer time from injury. This study provides evidence of the common problem of cold sensitivity in patients with hand pathology.

Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level II

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Conflict of Interest

Christine B. Novak declares that she has no conflict of interest. Steven J. McCabe declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Statement of Human and Animal Rights

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008(5). This study was approved by our institutional Research Ethics Board.

Statement of Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hand & Upper Extremity Program, Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto, 399 Bathurst Street, 2EW-422, Toronto, ON, M5T 2S8, Canada

    Christine B. Novak & Steven J. McCabe

Authors
  1. Christine B. Novak
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  2. Steven J. McCabe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christine B. Novak.

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Novak, C.B., McCabe, S.J. Prevalence of cold sensitivity in patients with hand pathology. HAND 10, 173–176 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11552-014-9694-y

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