METHODS: A survey of over 800 workers with time-loss claims for CTS was conducted six years following the closure of their claim. The survey covers current physical/psychological status, medical treatments, aspects of the respondents’ current and past employment, impacts on the financial health of the workers' household, adjustments in household- and paid-work made by domestic partners and benefits received by respondents from agencies other than workers' compensation. Logistic and linear regression methods are used to model the outcomes of CTS claimants across four separate outcome domains. Results are compared to those of two other claimant groups not expected to see long-term effects of their injuries on the quality of their work-life: 400 with upper extremity fractures and 100 with non-time-loss dermatitis.
RESULTS: The findings show that workers with CTS bear significant long-term losses in the form of continuing physical limitations, living/working with pain, depression, financial losses, increased usage of medical services, and reduced capacity to perform family and social roles. Former CTS claimants were almost twice as likely not to be currently working as compared to the fractures cohort. Workers diagnosed with CTS suffer substantial deficits across all four outcome domains as compared to the two comparison groups of claimants.
CONCLUSIONS:
A comprehensive measurement of the burden of CTS shows losses include continuing pain, loss of function, adverse financial impacts and household disruption which extend long after claim closure. The results indicate that the full burden of CTS is underestimated by workers' compensation losses and that greater attention both to hazard reduction and long-term work re-integration is needed.