Hypermobility among school children aged five to eight years: the Hospital del Mar Criteria gives higher prevalence for hypermobility than the Beighton score

CER6532
2014 Vol.32, N°2
PI 0285, PF 0290
Paediatric Rheumatology

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PMID: 24143889 [PubMed]

Received: 10/04/2013
Accepted : 09/08/2013
In Press: 17/10/2013
Published: 09/04/2014

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:
The purpose was to investigate the distribution of hypermobility among school children aged five to eight years.
METHODS:
One hundred and twenty-eight participants were assessed using the Beighton score and the Hospital del Mar criteria.
RESULTS:
With the Beighton score using the cut-off ≥4, the prevalence was 12%, and with the Hospital del Mar criteria the prevalence was 34%. There were significantly higher scores for females on both the Beighton (p=0.01) and Hospital del Mar criteria (p<0.0001). The youngest children aged five to six years scored higher compared with the seven- and eight-year-olds (p=0.016). The knee flexion was most likely to be hypermobile (97%), followed by shoulder rotation (80%), thumb (31%), elbow (27%), metatarsal-phalangeal (16%), hip (15.5%), fingers (10%) or knee (10%), ankle (6%), trunk (4%) and patella (2%).
CONCLUSIONS:
Gender and probably age must be taken into account when children are assessed for hypermobility. The Hospital del Mar criteria need to be modified for some of the motions.