AAHS - Does Statin Potency Influence the Risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Diagnosis or Surgery in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus?

Back to 2026 ePosters

Does Statin Potency Influence the Risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Diagnosis or Surgery in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus?
Tien-Ching Lee, MD, PhD; Yih-Chih Fu, MD, PhD
Kaohsiung Medical Univeristy, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Introduction
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) predisposes patients to musculoskeletal complications, including carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Statins, widely prescribed for dyslipidemia in T2DM, have been implicated in musculoskeletal complaints, but their impact on CTS risk remains unclear. This study evaluates whether high-potency versus low/moderate-potency statin therapy alters the incidence of CTS diagnosis and carpal tunnel release (CTR) surgery in adults with T2DM.

Materials & Methods
The TriNetX US Research Network (?104 million patients; 2008-2024) was queried for adults (?18 years) with a diagnosis of T2DM who were newly exposed to (1) high-potency statins (atorvastatin ?40 mg or rosuvastatin ?20 mg) or (2) low/moderate-potency statins (all other standard doses). Patients with prior CTS or CTR were excluded. Propensity score matching (1:1, greedy nearest-neighbor, caliper 0.01) balanced age, sex, obesity, thyroid disease, rheumatoid arthritis, renal disease, smoking status, and concomitant medications (PPIs, aromatase inhibitors, corticosteroids). Each matched cohort comprised 5,919 T2DM patients. Primary outcomes were (a) new CTS diagnosis and (b) CTR surgery within five years of statin initiation. Risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated; significance was set at ? = 0.05.

Results
Matched cohorts (mean age 58.3 � 11.7 years; 48% female) demonstrated excellent covariate balance (all SMD < 0.05).

CTS diagnosis: 162 cases (2.7%) in the high-potency group versus 170 cases (2.9%) in the low/moderate-potency group (RR 0.95; 95% CI 0.77-1.17; p = 0.624).
CTR surgery: 22 cases (0.4%) in the high-potency group versus 35 cases (0.6%) in the low/moderate-potency group (RR 0.63; 95% CI 0.37-1.07; p = 0.086).

Sex-stratified and sensitivity analyses (excluding patients with obesity or thyroid disease) yielded similar point estimates without significant interactions (all p > 0.10).

Conclusions
In this multicenter real-world cohort of adults with T2DM, high-potency statin therapy was not associated with an increased risk of CTS diagnosis or CTR surgery. A non-significant trend toward lower surgery

Back to 2026 ePosters