Preoperative corticosteroid injections are associated with worse long-term outcome of surgical carpal tunnel release

Figures & data

Figure 1. Inclusion of patients. ^a Information about steroid injections was considered to be adequate if the patients remembered being injected. Due to the limitations in study design, the patient-reported numbers were not objectively verified by medical source data, although none of the patients specifically expressed difficulty in recalling the number of injections.

Figure 2. Numbers of patients who received specific numbers of injections.

Figure 3. Distribution of scores for regression of symptoms, on numeric rating scale (NRS).

Distribution of injections among patients with and without specific complaints and complete regression of symptoms

	RR (95%CI)	p-value	Nomean (range)	Yesmean (range)
Pain	1.11 (1.02–1.20)	0.04	1.98 (0–10)	2.90 (0–10)
Paresthesiae	1.14 (1.06–1.22)	0.007	1.90 (0–10)	3.18 (0–10)
Nocturnal awakenings	1.22 (1.09–1.36)	0.003	1.99 (0–10)	3.89 (0–10)
Complete regression of symptoms	0.94 (0.86–1.01)	0.09	2.52 (0–10)	1.90 (0–10)

Figure 4. Distribution of injections in patients with and without pain (A), paresthesiae (B), nocturnal awakening (C), and complete regression of symptoms (D).