Dupuytren's Disease and exposure to vibration: Systematic review and Meta-analysis

Introduction: Dupuytren's Disease (DD) occurs frequently in the entire population. Several risk factorsare well known, including diabetes, alcohol, and age. In this meta-analysis, we assessed the role ofoccupational vibration exposure in the risk of DD, an issue currently under debate. Methods: We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Library to find references up toJune 2019. DD prevalence was calculated using meta-proportion analysis. Differences in characteristicsbetween DD patients and controls were expressed as standardized mean differences using the inverseof variance method or percentages using also meta-proportion analysis. We performed meta-regressionanalyses to assess the effects of alcohol, smoking, age, and sex on the DD incidence for the patients withDD that were exposed to vibrations. Results: We included 9 studies, comprising a total of 60,570 patients, including 1,804 DD patients. Prevalence of DD was 9.8% (95%CI: 5.9-14.4%). Compared with controls, patients with DD were older, morediabetic, more smokers and with a higher consumption of alcohol. Meta-analysis of the nine longitudinalstudies comparing DD occurrence between patients exposed to vibration (626 of 6825) or not (1220 of 52,502) revealed a significantly increased DD incidence among patients with vibration exposure compared with controls (OR = 2.87; 95%CI: 1.41-5.84). In metaregression we found no significant influenceof all parameters on DD. Conclusion: Age and environmental factors had no effect on DD prevalence among patients exposed tovibrations, despite a 10% prevalence in this group. Using vibration tools at work should be recognized asan important risk factor of developing DD. (c) 2020 Societe francaise de rhumatologie. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.