Systematic review of risk factors for growing pains in children

LUO Ting; LIN Yunzhu; LIAN Xianghong; GUO Yixin; HE Hongxia

doi:10.11852/zgetbjzz2024-0529

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Chinese Journal of Child Health Care ›› 2025, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (5) : 537-543. DOI: 10.11852/zgetbjzz2024-0529

Meta Analysis

Systematic review of risk factors for growing pains in children

LUO Ting^1,2, LIN Yunzhu^1,2, LIAN Xianghong^1,2, GUO Yixin^1,2, HE Hongxia³

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Abstract

Objective To systematically evaluate the risk factors related to growing pains in children, in order to provide a reference for the prevention and diagnosis of growing pains. Methods Databases including PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP and CBM were electronically searched to collect clinical studies related to risk factors for growing pains in children from database inception to June 2024. Two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the studies. RevMan 5.3 software was used for Meta-analysis, and qualitative descriptive analysis was applied to data that could not be quantitatively combined. Results A total of 23 studies from 9 countries were included, covering 12 potential risk factors. The results of systematic review suggested that serum 25(OH)D concentration (MD=-30.41, 95%CI:-40.51 to -20.32,P＜0.001), family history (OR=2.12, 95%CI:1.74 - 2.57, P<0.001), picky eating (OR=2.75, 95%CI:1.62 - 4.67, P<0.001), physical exercise/joint activity (OR=1.30, 95%CI:1.14 - 1.48, P<0.001), bone mineral density (MD=-0.07, 95%CI:-0.12 to -0.02, P=0.008), and pain threshold might correlate with the occurrence of growing pain in children, and might be risk factors. Blood calcium concentration, foot or lower limb posture had different results in individual studies, and their correlation with growing pains requires further original research for confirmation. Conclusions Growing pains in children is affected by many factors. Due to limitations in the quantity and quality of existing studies, high-quality prospective research is recommended to further clarify the risk factors for growing pains in children.

Key words

growing pains / influencing factors / systematic review / children

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LUO Ting, LIN Yunzhu, LIAN Xianghong, GUO Yixin, HE Hongxia. Systematic review of risk factors for growing pains in children[J]. Chinese Journal of Child Health Care. 2025, 33(5): 537-543 https://doi.org/10.11852/zgetbjzz2024-0529

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