RT Journal
A1 Burt S, Hales T
T1 Work-related carpal tunnel syndrome: Fix the jobs; don't blame the workers
JF Archives of Internal Medicine
JO Archives of Internal Medicine
YR 1999
FD June 28
VO 159
IS 12
SP 1371
OP 1373
DO 
UL http://dx.doi.org/
AB 
Atcheson et al1 attempted to evaluate the association between work-related carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and (1) predisposing medical conditions (diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, various arthropathies, unclassified inflammatory disorders, and others) and (2) occupational group. There are serious methodological flaws that limit the conclusions that may be drawn from these data: detection bias, inappropriate choice of a comparison group, and misclassification of exposure to occupational ergonomic risk factors. In addition to the methodological problems, we question the authors' interpretation of the reported results.