Direct and Indirect Effects of Function in Associated Variables Such as Depression and Severity on Pain Intensity in Women with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Objective To determine the direct and indirect effects of function on clinical variables such as age, pain intensity, years of the disease, severity of symptoms, and depression in women with electrodiagnostic and clinical diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Design A cross‐sectional study. Setting Patients from an urban hospital referred to a university clinic. Methods Two hundred and forty‐four (n = 224) women with CTS were included. Demographic and clinical data, duration of symptoms, function, symptom's severity of the symptoms, pain intensity, and depression were self‐reported collected. Correlation and path analysis with maximum likelihood estimation were conducted to assess the direct and indirect effect of hand function on pain, age, years with the disease, symptoms severity, and depression. Results Significant positive correlations between function and pain intensity, years with pain and symptoms severity were observed. The path analysis found direct effects from depression, symptoms severity, and years with pain to function (all, P