Prevalence and demographic distribution of hypermobility in a random group of school-aged children in Nigeria

Oluwakemi Adebukola Ituen*, Ebuka Miracle Anieto, Gillian Ferguson, Jacques Duysens , Bouwien Smits-Engelsman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)
49 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of hypermobility in randomly selected healthy children, without previous trauma or disease process affecting the joints and whether other demographic variables (age, sex, BMI) had an impact on Beighton scores and range of motion (RoM) in children between 6 and 10 years of age. Results: 286 children were included; 27.3% of them had a Beighton score ≥7/9 and 72% would be classified hypermobile if we had used a Beighton cut-off score ≥4/9. Prevalence declined with increasing age. Girls were more often hypermobile (34%) than boys (20%) and this was mainly caused by increased RoM in the knees. Positive scores of finger items of the Beighton were more common than on the other items, leading to a high prevalence of peripheral hypermobility. Localized hypermobility was only found in the fifth MCP joint. A total of 15% of the children with normal mobility reached 20 excess degrees RoM of the left and right fifth MCP. Pain was present in 12 of the 239 children but was not linked to the level of mobility. Conclusion: Hypermobility is the rule in this pain-free population of children with GJH.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1092
Number of pages15
JournalHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland)
Volume11
Issue number8
Early online date11 Apr 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2023

Keywords

  • joint hypermobility
  • range of motion
  • Beighton score
  • prevalence
  • School-aged children
  • localized hypermobility
  • generalized joint hypermobility
  • hypermobility spectrum disorder
  • school-aged children

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Health Professions
  • Health Information Management
  • Health Policy
  • Health Informatics
  • Leadership and Management

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Prevalence and demographic distribution of hypermobility in a random group of school-aged children in Nigeria'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this