Joint hypermobility in the Iranian school students

Background

The term benign hypermobility syndrome is applied to those children with musculoskeletal pain associated with generalized hypermobility of the joints without any associated congenital syndrome or abnormality of connective tissue, such as Marfan's or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of joint hypermobility among school students and to define the characteristics of patients with joint hypermobility.

Methods

This study was conducted between January 1994 and July 2004 among school students in Tehran. The clinical features were often associated with intermittent nocturnal pains, and are characterized by the occurrence of musculoskeletal symptoms in the absence of demonstrable systemic rheumatologic disease. The degree of joint was scored by modified criteria of Carter and Wilkinson.

Results

Two hundred fifty two students (132 females and 120 males) with a mean age of 8.7 years (range 6–16) were examined. Joint hypermobility was observed in 30 (11.8%) of the students. There were 12 male (40%) and 18 female (60%) hypermobile subjects. Our results show that phenotype has no relation with joint mobility.

Conclusion

Although hypermobility does not seem to be very problematic in young people, as in our focus group, we believe that it is important for physicians to recognize this problem to ensure correct diagnosis and treatment, since it may lead to mimic rheumatic diseases in the future.