Fact · Accessibility and health
0.84risk ratio
The 2023 Cochrane steroid review found that the need for surgery probably falls slightly after an injection, with a risk ratio of 0.84 at one year.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“The requirement for surgery probably reduces slightly in the LCI group at one year (risk ratio 0.84, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.98; 1 RCT, 111 participants, moderate-certainty evidence).”
Local corticosteroid injection versus placebo for carpal tunnel syndrome, NL Ashworth et al., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2023, Main results.
Open the original (DOI 10.1002/14651858.CD015148)- What it measures
- Only one trial, with 111 participants, reported this outcome at one year.
- What it does not show
- Based on one trial, so the figure is fragile. A risk ratio of 0.84 is a 16% relative reduction, not a 16 point drop in the absolute chance of surgery.