Background and purpose: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common compression neuropathy in the wrist. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of CTS and the risk factors associated with this condition.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Sari, Iran 2014-2016, among patients with clinical symptoms in whom CTS was confirmed by electrodiagnostic test. Afterwards, demographic information and underlying risk factors were recorded and data was analyzed in SPSS V.20.

Results: In this study, the prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome was 1.82%. With respect to the distribution of employment, among female patients 66.14% were housewives while male patients were mainly involved in agriculture (54.54%). The risk factors for CTS were diabetes mellitus (11.6%), hypothyroidism (8.7%), old wrist fracture (2.17%), and rheumatoid arthritis (1.44%). Idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome was found in 75.37%.

Conclusion: Idiopathic CTS was more prevalent in our cases and the most important underlying risk factors associated with carpal tunnel syndrome were diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, old wrist fracture, and rheumatoid arthritis.