Prevalence of Orthopedic Pains in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Context: Musculoskeletal disorders are among the main causes of death and disability and can impose high costs on individuals and countries. Considering the importance of pain, the present meta-analysis study aimed to investigate the prevalence of orthopedic pains in Iranian children and adolescents.

Methods: The present study was reported in line with PRISMA. The searching process was carried out using keywords, including adolescents, pain, youth, school-age children, shoulder pain, neck pain, shoulder, and neck, AND/OR operators for the articles published during 2000 and 2022 in Scopus, Embase, PubMed, Scientific Information Database, Magiran, International Statistical Institute, and Islamic World Science Citation Center databases. This study reviewed the articles that reported the prevalence of orthopedic pains (i.e., wrists/hands, shoulders, elbows, and knees) among the 5-18-year age group in Iran and extracted their results. Two researchers conducted the search quite independently and extracted the necessary data using a researcher-made checklist. The collected data were analyzed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software (CMA3).

Results: Initially, 418 articles were identified, and 14 articles were entered into the systematic review stage. The prevalence rates of pains related to wrists/hands, shoulders, elbows, and knees were 6.6 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.2 - 13.0), 26.9 (95% CI: 17.0 - 39.7), 2.9 (95% CI: 1.3 - 6.3), and 6.6 (95% CI: 3.0 - 14.2), respectively.

Conclusions: The prevalence of shoulder and knee pains in individuals under 18 years in Iran was high. Therefore, it is necessary to make necessary interventions and take preventive measures.