Introduction and Purpose: Recurrent lower extremity pains (growing pains) are the most common non-inflammatory cause of musculoskeletal pain in children. This study aims to investigate musculoskeletal symptoms that may be associated with vitamin D deficiency. We retrospectively examined the data of patients who applied to the pediatric outpatient clinic who had vitamin D levels measurement results.
Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the clinical, laboratory, and diagnostic findings of patients aged 3-16 years that presented to our outpatient clinic with extremity pains between January 2019 and December 2019. We excluded patients with chronic diseases, patients with joint findings that might be associated with rheumatological or orthopedic diseases, and patients that used vitamin D supplements.
Results: There were a total of 103 subjects. 48 subjects were female (46.6%) and 55 (53.4%) were male. The mean age of the subjects was 8.8 ± 4.2 years (3-16). The mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] level of the subjects was 15.4 ± 6.5 nmol/L. The subjects were categorized according to their 25(OH)D levels. 10 subjects (9.7%) had severe vitamin D deficiency, 25 (23.4%) had vitamin D deficiency, and 42 (40.8%) had vitamin D insufficiency.
Discussion: Leg pains are common in children, and extremity pains such as growing pains are the most common non-inflammatory causes of muscle-joint pain in children. Patients with musculoskeletal pain should be screened for vitamin D deficiency. In this study, we aimed to emphasize the importance of vitamin D level assessment in patients presenting with joint-muscle pains that are primarily evaluated as growing pains.
Key words: growth pain,child,vitamin D
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