title: Postoffer Pre-Placement Screening for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in Newly Hired Manufacturing Workers.
abstract: We determined the predictive validity of a postoffer pre-placement (POPP) screen using nerve conduction velocity studies (NCV) to identify future cases of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).
  
  
  
  A cohort of 1648 newly hired manufacturing production workers underwent baseline NCS, and were followed for 5 years.
  
  
  
  There was no association between abnormal POPP NCV results and incident CTS. Varying NCV diagnostic cut-offs did not improve predictive validity. Workers in jobs with high hand/wrist exposure showed greater risk of CTS than those in low exposed jobs (relative risk 2.82; 95% confidence interval 1.52 to 5.22).
  
  
  
  POPP screening seems ineffective as a preventive strategy for CTS.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Medical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Ann Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Dale
authors.forename: Bethany T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.forename: Skye
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buckner-Petty
authors.forename: Jaime R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Strickland
authors.forename: Bradley
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Evanoff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002349:Carpal Tunnel Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003132:Commerce; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D066192:Manufacturing Industry; D008403:Mass Screening; D008475:Median Nerve; D009431:Neural Conduction; D009790:Occupations; D010560:Personnel Selection; D012189:Retrospective Studies