title: Diagnosis of growing pains in a Brazilian pediatric population: a prospective investigation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To establish the clinical aspects of growing pains and to determine, through differential diagnosis, how many patients who referred themselves to a specialized clinic were found to have growing pains.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study prospectively examined the presence of growing pains in a self-reported population of children and adolescents with signs and symptoms (lower limb pains) of unexplained etiology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 345 children and adolescents were evaluated; 174 (50.4%) were males and 171 (49.6%) were females. Three hundred cases were classified as growing pains (87%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high frequency of growing pains was found in our study population and it shows that in a prospective evaluation of patients with signs and symptoms of unknown etiology we can find a frequency higher than that reported in literature.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Abreu Sodré, Associação de Assistência à Criança Deficiente - AACD, São Paulo, SP, BR.
authors.forename: Luciana Pereira Almeida de
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Piano
authors.affiliation: Hospital Abreu Sodré, Associação de Assistência à Criança Deficiente - AACD, São Paulo, SP, BR.
authors.forename: Ricardo Prado
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Golmia
authors.affiliation: Hospital Abreu Sodré, Associação de Assistência à Criança Deficiente - AACD, São Paulo, SP, BR.
authors.forename: Andrea Pimentel Fonseca
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Golmia
authors.affiliation: Hospital Abreu Sodré, Associação de Assistência à Criança Deficiente - AACD, São Paulo, SP, BR.
authors.forename: Adriana Maluf Elias
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Sallum
authors.affiliation: Hospital Abreu Sodré, Associação de Assistência à Criança Deficiente - AACD, São Paulo, SP, BR.
authors.forename: Lucia Akemi
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Nukumizu
authors.affiliation: Hospital Abreu Sodré, Associação de Assistência à Criança Deficiente - AACD, São Paulo, SP, BR.
authors.forename: Damião Guedes
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.affiliation: Hospital Abreu Sodré, Associação de Assistência à Criança Deficiente - AACD, São Paulo, SP, BR.
authors.forename: Morton Aaron
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Scheinberg