Impact of Clinical and Electrophysiological Features of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome on Sleep Disturbances

Abstract

Aim: This study investigates the relationship between clinical and electrophysiological severity of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and sleep disturbances. While CTS is known to cause nocturnal symptoms, the extent to which these disturbances correlate with clinical and electrophysiological findings remains unclear. Material and Method: This retrospective analysis was conducted on 48 patients with electrophysiologically confirmed CTS. Clinical severity was classified into five stages, and electrophysiological severity was determined through nerve conduction studies. Sleep disturbances were assessed using the Jenkins Sleep Scale (JSS). The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare JSS scores across severity groups, while Spearman’s correlation analysis evaluated associations between JSS scores and other parameters. Results: JSS scores significantly correlated with clinical severity of CTS (Spearman’s rho=0.46, p=0.001). Pairwise comparisons showed that patients with moderate (p=0.03) and severe (p=0.031) CTS symptoms had significantly higher JSS scores compared to those with very mild symptoms. However, no significant correlation was found between JSS scores and electrophysiological parameters (p >0.05). Conclusion: Our findings indicate that sleep disturbances in CTS are more closely related to clinical symptom severity, particularly in patients with moderate to severe clinical findings. In contrast, electrophysiological parameters do not appear to correlate with sleep impairment, suggesting that central sensitization, pain perception, and nocturnal symptom fluctuations may play a more prominent role in sleep disturbances among CTS patients.

Keywords

• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• electrophysiology
• electromyography
• sleep

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