Bilateral oophorectomy Increase Risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, reveals study

The incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is higher in women and peaks around the age of menopause. Therefore, Dr Starlinger, Julia and her team conducted a study to investigate whether bilateral oophorectomy is associated with an increased risk of severe CTS.

In this population-based cohort study, the researchers included a total of 1,653 premenopausal women who underwent bilateral oophorectomy for a nonmalignant indication between 1988 and 2007. They also included a random sample of 1,653 age-matched referent women who did not undergo bilateral oophorectomy. They evaluated the diagnoses of CTS assigned to women over their entire lifetime in these two cohorts. They used Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for potential confounders to evaluate the risk of de novo severe CTS after bilateral oophorectomy.

Key findings of the study were:

• Upon analysis, the researchers found that bilateral oophorectomy was associated with an increased risk of severe CTS (adjusted hazard ratio 1.65).
• They also found that the risk was higher in women with lower body mass index, nulliparity, and with a benign ovarian indication for oophorectomy (nonsignificant interactions).
• They observed no protective effect of estrogen therapy after the oophorectomy.
• They noted that the findings were similar in secondary analyses considering the incidence of CTS of any severity or idiopathic CTS.

The authors concluded, "The risk of severe CTS, common in perimenopausal women, is increased after bilateral oophorectomy. The association may be causal or due to confounding. Therefore, the precise biological mechanisms explaining the association and the absence of a mitigating effect of estrogen therapy should be further investigated."

For further information:

doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000001804