The association of Raynaud's syndrome with carpal tunnel syndrome: a meta-analysis.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) has traditionally been included among the diseases associated with Raynaud's syndrome (RS). The prevalence of RS in patients suffering from CTS is not well defined. The objective of this paper was to assess the prevalence of RS in patients with CTS-a meta-analysis of published data was performed. The PubMed database of the National Library of Medicine and ISI Web of Knowledge was used for studies dealing with RS and CTS. The studies provided sufficient data to estimate the prevalence of RS in patients of CTS. A forest plot was determined by the revealed prevalence. Statistical analysis was based on methods for a random effects meta-analysis and a finite mixture model for proportions. Publication bias was investigated with the linear regression test (Egger's method). A meta-regression was conducted by the year of publication. Eight eligible studies, contributing data on 675 subjects, were included in this meta-analysis. For CTS, a pooled prevalence of 15.5% and 95% CI (95% CI 0.043, 0.318) were obtained. Statistically publication bias was present (P value 0.143). A mixture model analysis found five latent classes. The meta-regression indicated that the estimated prevalence increased when the year of commencement increased, too. Within the decade (1957-1967), the odds ratio increased from 1 (95% CI 1.065, 1.112) to 2.340 (95% CI 1.886, 2.903). Despite some heterogeneity, there is a possible indication of an association between RS and patients with CTS.