Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jan;12(1):117-122.
doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1430_22. Epub 2023 Feb 15.

Prevalence of growing pains in a general paediatric OPD: A descriptive, observational and cross-sectional study

Bidyut K Khuntdar  1 , Sumon Mondal  1 , Surjit Naik  2 , Mahesh P Mohanta  3
Affiliations

Prevalence of growing pains in a general paediatric OPD: A descriptive, observational and cross-sectional study

Bidyut K Khuntdar et al. J Family Med Prim Care. 2023 Jan.

Abstract

Context: Growing pain (GP) is a common presentation in primary care settings.

Aims: To find out the prevalence of GP and to observe its characteristics and associations.

Settings and design: General paediatric outpatient department (OPD).

Methods and material: Children coming to the general paediatric OPD of a tertiary centre in India between April 2019 and March 2020 for 'chronic leg pains' were screened with Peterson's criteria. Patients with systemic illness were excluded. All received vitamin D and calcium supplementation. Patients with haemoglobin less than 11 gm% received additional 3 mg/kg iron supplementation. Then, patients were asked for follow-up.

Statistical analysis used: Chi-square test.

Results: A total of 333 children were diagnosed as GP out of the total OPD attendance of 26750. The prevalence was 1.24% and 72.7% among the children with chronic leg pain. Highest prevalence was in winter (1.74%). The mean age of the patients was 7.88 years. The mean duration of symptoms was 10.92 months. After 3 months, 267 patients could be followed up. Seventy-two out of 107 (67.3%) children, who received iron became symptom-free. Only 43 (28.8%) patients became symptom-free out of 160, who received only calcium and vitamin D3 and did not receive iron. The difference was highly significant statistically (P < 0.0001).

Conclusions: The prevalence of GP in the OPD was 1.24% and 72.7% among the children with chronic leg pain. Iron supplementation along with vitamin D3 and calcium was associated with faster resolution of the symptoms.

Keywords: Calcium; child; iron; leg pains; night pain; vitamin D.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Follow-up of cases of growing pains
Figure 2
Figure 2
Significant improvements of symptoms after iron supplementation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Anthony K, Schanberg L, Anthony K, Schanberg L. Growing pains. In: Kliegman R, Blum R, Geme J III, Tasker R, Shah S, Wilson K, et al., editors. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 21st ed. Elsevier Inc; 2020. pp. 1329–30.
    1. Mohanta MP. Growing Pains:Practitioners'Dilemma. Indian Pediatr. 2014;51:379–83. - PubMed
    1. Petersen H. Growing pains. Pediatr Clin North Am. 1986;33:1365–72. - PubMed
    1. Hawksley JC. The nature of growing pains and their relation to rheumatism in children and adolescents. BMJ. 1939;1:155–7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Naish JM, Apley J. 'Growing pains':A clinical study of non-arthritic limb pains in children. Arch Dis Child. 1951;26:134–40. - PMC - PubMed