Table 3.

Patient-reported outcomes

Score*	Mean (SD) score		Difference in change over time†		Effect size‡
	Open surgery	Endoscopic surgery	Mean (95% CI)	P value	Open surgery	Endoscopic surgery
Severity of symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome
Baseline	3.1 (0.6)	3.1 (0.6)	Reference
3 weeks	1.8 (0.5)	1.8 (0.5)	-0.003 (-0.18 to 0.17)	0.98	2.0	2.1
6 weeks	1.7 (0.5)	1.7 (0.5)	0.05 (-0.12 to 0.23)	0.57	2.2	2.3
3 months	1.5 (0.5)	1.5 (0.5)	0.07 (-0.11 to 0.24)	0.44	2.5	2.7
12 months	1.4 (0.5)	1.4 (0.6)	0.005 (-0.18 to 0.17)	0.96	2.7	2.8
Carpal tunnel syndrome functional status
Baseline	2.4 (0.8)	2.4 (0.6)	Reference
3 weeks	2.3 (0.9)	2.0 (0.8)	0.22 (0.04 to 0.41)	0.02	0.13	0.59
6 weeks	1.6 (0.5)	1.5 (0.5)	0.07 (-0.12 to 0.25)	0.48	1.0	1.5
3 months	1.3 (0.4)	1.3 (0.5)	-0.02 (-0.21 to 0.14)	0.82	1.4	1.7
12 months	1.2 (0.4)	1.3 (0.5)	-0.08 (-0.27 to 0.11)	0.43	1.5	1.9
SF-12 physical health
Baseline	42.5 (9)	44.2 (8)	Reference
3 months	49.3 (9)	50.7 (8)	-1.1 (-4.1 to 1.9)	0.48	0.74	0.81
12 months	49.8 (10)	50.1 (9)	0.43 (-2.6 to 3.5)	0.78	0.81	0.72

^*Score range; carpal tunnel syndrome, 1 (no symptoms or disability) to 5 (most severe symptoms or disability); SF-12, population norms have a mean of 50 and SD of 10.

^†Mixed model analysis for difference between open and endoscopic groups in change over time (follow-up score minus baseline score) adjusting for baseline characteristics.

^‡Effect size, mean change scores (unadjusted) divided by baseline SD (0.2 considered small, 0.5 moderate, and 0.8 large clinical change).¹⁹