Expected prevalence from the differential diagnosis of anterior knee pain in adolescent female athletes during preparticipation screening.
BACKGROUND
Anterior knee pain is a common disorder in female athletes with an undefined cause. The relative prevalence of specific patellofemoral disorders associated with anterior knee pain in adolescent females remains undetermined.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of specific patellofemoral disorders obtained using the differential diagnosis of anterior knee pain in adolescent female athletes during preparticipation screening.


METHODS
Descriptive epidemiology study.


METHODS
Preparticipation screening evaluations at a county public school district in Kentucky.


METHODS
A total of 419 unique middle and high school-aged female athletes.


METHODS
Participants were evaluated by physicians for anterior knee pain over 3 consecutive basketball seasons. Given the longitudinal nature of this study, some participants were tested longitudinally over multiple years.


RESULTS
Over the course of 3 basketball seasons, 688 patient evaluations were performed. Of these, 183 (26.6%) were positive for anterior knee pain. A statistically significant difference was noted in the prevalence of anterior knee pain by school level, with 34.4% (n = 67) in high school-aged athletes versus 23.5% (n = 116) in middle school-aged athletes (P < .05). In the 1376 knees evaluated, patellofemoral dysfunction was the most common diagnosis, with an overall prevalence of 7.3% (n = 100). The only diagnosis shown to be statistically different between age levels was Sinding-LarsenJohansson disease or patellar tendinopathy, with 38 cases (9.7%) in high school-aged and 31 (3.1%) in middle school-aged athletes (P < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
Anterior knee pain was present in 26.6% of the adolescent female athletes screened over 3 years. Symptoms of anterior knee pain likely persist after middle school-aged onset and reach peak prevalence during the high school years.
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, OH, USA. Kim.Foss@cchmc.org
Kim D
KD
Barber Foss
Gregory D
GD
Myer
Stephen S
SS
Chen
Timothy E
TE
Hewett
D000293:Adolescent; D056352:Athletes; D001490:Basketball; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007718:Knee Injuries; D007719:Knee Joint; D055034:Osteochondrosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D046788:Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D013177:Sports; D052256:Tendinopathy