Abstract
Background: Self-reported measures are often used in research and clinical practice to diagnose carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and guide therapeutic choices. We aimed to assess the clinical utility of the Norwegian versions of two self-reported outcome measures for symptom severity assessment, the 6-item CTS (CTS-6), and Boston-CTS (BCTQ), and of one diagnostic measure, the hand-diagram, by evaluating measurement properties including discriminative ability for severity assessment (CTS-6, BCTQ), and diagnosis of CTS (hand-diagram).Methods: We performed forward and backward translation and cultural adaptation of the Norwegian CTS-6 and BCTQ. Following COSMIN guidelines, we investigated internal consistency, reliability, construct validity, and discriminative ability for distinguishing between severity levels of CTS in patients with confirmed CTS for the CTS-6 and BCTQ and reliability and discriminative ability for diagnosing CTS for the hand-diagram.Results: Two hundred and fifty-one patients referred for diagnostic work-up for CTS with nerve conduction studies (NCS) participated. The CTS-6 and BCTQ had acceptable internal consistency (Crohnbach's α = 0.82 and 0.86, respectively), reliability (ICC = 0.86 and 0.90; SEM = 0.24 and 0.20; SDC95% = 0.68 and 0.55, respectively), construct validity (all eight pre-defined hypotheses confirmed) and discriminative ability to distinguish between severity levels of CTS [Area under the curve (AUC) = 0.75, 95% CI 0.64–0.85]. The hand-diagram had acceptable reliability (Cohen's kappa = 0.69) and discriminative ability to diagnose CTS (sensitivity = 0.72, specificity = 0.90).Conclusion: Our findings support the clinical utility of the CTS-6 and BCTQ for symptom severity assessment and of the hand-diagram for diagnostic screening.
Highlights
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is characterized by paresthesia, numbness and pain in the median nerve distribution [1]
We aimed to assess the clinical utility of the Norwegian versions of two self-reported outcome measures for symptom severity assessment, the 6-item CTS (CTS-6), and Boston-CTS (BCTQ), and of one diagnostic measure, the hand-diagram, by evaluating measurement properties including discriminative ability for severity assessment (CTS-6, Boston carpal tunnel questionnaire (BCTQ)), and diagnosis of CTS
The CTS-6 and BCTQ had acceptable internal consistency (Crohnbach’s α = 0.82 and 0.86, respectively), reliability (ICC = 0.86 and 0.90; SEM = 0.24 and 0.20; SDC95% = 0.68 and 0.55, respectively), construct validity and discriminative ability to distinguish between severity levels of CTS [Area under the curve (AUC) = 0.75, 95% CI 0.64–0.85]
Summary
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is characterized by paresthesia, numbness and pain in the median nerve distribution [1]. The 6item CTS from Atroshi et al (CTS-6) [8, 9] and Boston carpal tunnel questionnaire (BCTQ) [10] are widely used for severity assessment, and the hand-diagram [11, 12] for diagnostic screening. These instruments are not currently available in Norwegian. A study of the measurement properties of these instruments according to the COSMIN guidelines, together with a delineation of their respective discriminative abilities for diagnosis (hand-diagram) and severity assessment [CTS-6 and (BCTQ)], could give a good estimate of their utility and help clinicians and researchers to choose the appropriate instrument [19]. We aimed to assess the clinical utility of the Norwegian versions of two self-reported outcome measures for symptom severity assessment, the 6-item CTS (CTS-6), and Boston-CTS (BCTQ), and of one diagnostic measure, the hand-diagram, by evaluating measurement properties including discriminative ability for severity assessment (CTS-6, BCTQ), and diagnosis of CTS (hand-diagram)
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