Clinical And Laboratory Characteristics And Growth Outcomes Of Children With Growing Pains

Background: Growing pains is a benign, non-inflammatory pain syndrome of childhood, characterized by bilateral recurrent leg pain. Studies regarding the clinical and laboratory profile of growing pains are limited, especially in East Asia. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical features, laboratory findings, and follow-up of children with growing pains. Methods: Patients under 18 years of age with growing pains in National Taiwan University Children’s Hospital between April 2006 and April 2019 were enrolled. Clinical features, laboratory data and medication records were analyzed. Changes of body height and weight before and after the symptoms were assessed by the paired samples t-test. Results: After excluding 31 children with musculoskeletal diseases, 276 patients with a final diagnosis of growing pains were included, comprising 152 boys (55%) and 124 girls (45%). The mean age was 4.9 ± 2.7 years. Bilateral and lower limbs pain were present in 232 (84%) and all cases, respectively. There were 6 out of 16 patients (38%) with elevated alkaline phosphatase, and 3 out of 50 (6%) with positive antinuclear antibodies in low titers. There were no significant changes in body height and weight percentiles or z-scores at 0.5, 1, and 2 years after diagnosis, compared with baseline values. Symptomatic treatments were used in 33% of patients. Conclusions: Growing pains is a common benign leg pain syndrome in children. Alkaline phosphatase elevation is commonly detected. It is not associated with rapid changes of body height and weight within 2 years of experiencing growing pains. © 2020, CC BY.