Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) frequently coexists with diabetes and may progress before metabolic disease is recognized. In the Journal of Diabetes, a retrospective analysis evaluated the timing of diabetes diagnosis relative to CTS identification and progression to carpal tunnel release (CTR).

The study included 304 patients treated between 2012 and 2022 at a tertiary care center. All patients had CTS and diabetes mellitus (DM) and underwent CTR. A total of 154 patients (51%) received a DM diagnosis after CTS identification. The median time between CTS and DM diagnoses was similar regardless of whether DM was diagnosed before or after CTS. The interval was 24.6 months (interquartile range [IQR], 8.0-41.8) in those diagnosed with DM before CTS and 24.3 months (IQR, 9.9-46.2) in those diagnosed after CTS (P = 0.604).

The median time from CTS diagnosis to first CTR was 2.5 months (IQR, 1.0–8.1). This interval did not differ by the timing of DM diagnosis. The median time was 2.57 months when DM was diagnosed before CTS and 2.20 months when DM was diagnosed after CTS (P = 0.188). Shorter CTS-to-CTR time was associated with older age (Spearman ρ = −0.24; P < 0.001) and higher glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) at CTS diagnosis (ρ = −0.15; P = 0.002). No associations were observed with age or HbA1c at DM diagnosis.

These findings show that diabetes diagnosis timing did not alter surgical progression after CTS identification.