Development of a screening tool for children's growing pains: validation, reliability control and clinical evaluation

Growing pains (GP) is the most common musculoskeletal complaint in childhood. The present study describes the development, validation and clinical evaluation of a questionnaire for the detection of GP in the general children's population aged 4 -7 years of age. Based on the existing publications, a 27-point closed type questionnaire was developed and was administered to a parental population of school-age children for standardization. Nine questions evaluating pain localization, intensity and 24-hour temporal distribution, exhibited excellent validity and reliability and were finally selected. A cut-off point of ? 8 was proposed for GP's diagnosis. Questionnaire's sensitivity and specificity were studied in a sample of outpatient children attending an orthopedic clinic for lower limb pain of no apparent traumatic origin. The diagnosis of GP based on the questionnaire coincided with the orthopedic diagnosis in all cases. The proposed questionnaire is a reliable and valid screening tool for GP.