Table 1.
Characteristics of patients with traumatic hand injury and HAVS
| Parameter | Traumatic hand injury n = 64 | HAVS n = 26 |
|---|---|---|
| Gender (male/female) |
50/14 |
24/2 |
| Age at 8 year follow up1,2 |
51 (28–86) |
61 (31–73) |
| Smoker (yes/no) |
14/50 |
4/22 |
| Time since injury (years) at 8 year follow up3 |
8.25 (7.75–9) |
- |
| Years of vibration exposure at 1 year follow up1 |
- |
30 (4–46) |
| CISS score (abnormal/normal)4 |
17/43 |
16/8 |
| DASH score at 1 year follow up (0–100)5,1,6 |
23 (2–60)5 |
34 (5–70)5 |
| Sense of coherence (SOC, range 13–91) score at 8 year follow up3,7 |
74 (28–91) |
67 (50–91) |
| HISS at injury1,8 |
77 (10–305) |
- |
| Vibration-induced white fingers (VWF)9 |
- |
15/26 |
| Stage |
|
|
| 0 |
|
119 |
| 1 |
|
5 |
| 2 |
|
7 |
| 3 |
|
3 |
| 4 |
|
0 |
| Sensorineural symptoms |
- |
23/26 |
| Stage |
|
|
| 0 |
|
3 |
| 1 |
|
8 |
| 2 |
|
7 |
| 3 |
|
8 |
| Both VWF and sensorineural symptoms10 |
- |
20/26 |
| Impaired vibrotactile sense11 | - | 22/26 |
1Median (IQR).
2Patients with HAVS were significantly older than patients with traumatic hand injuries (p = 0.004).
3Median (range).
4Internal drop out: traumatic hand injury (n = 4), HAVS (n = 2). CISS score >50 = abnormal self-reported cold sensitivity [21].
5Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH). 0 = no disability, 100 = most severe disability [24].
6Patients with HAVS had significantly higher scores indicating more severe disability (p = 0.001).
7The 13-item scale. The scores on each item ranges from 1 (never) to 7 (very often). A high score indicates a strong SOC [18].
8Hand Injury Severity Score [23].
9Stockholm Workshop scale [25]. 8 out of 11 patients had cold sensitivity without blanching of skin (i.e. equal to 0.5 in a modified Stockholm Workshop scale, VWF). Staging is based on the highest stage on the most injured hand.
10Patients having both a VWF score ≥ 0.5 and sensorineural score > 0.
11Sensibility index (SI) < 0.8 in at least one finger [26]. SI-index is a measure of vibrotactile sense and is a ratio of the integrated area below a test curve and a corresponding age reference population. An index > 0.8 is regarded as an indication of abnormality [27].