Evaluation of Restless Legs syndrome and growing pains in children with familial Mediterranean fever

Abstract

Growing pains (GP) and restless leg syndrome (RLS) are one of the frequentlyseen pain syndromes of childhood. These two pain syndromes -GP and RLSmay be confused with exertional leg pain (ELP) of familial Mediterranean fever(FMF). The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of fulfilling thecriterion for GP and RLS among children with FMF. Sixty FMF patients and70 healthy controls were enrolled. Clinical and demographic data of patientswere recorded. A questionnaire including the symptoms of GP and RLS wereapplied to all participants and their parents. Twenty-seven patients (45%) hadELP. Ten FMF patients and 10 healthy children fulfilled GP criteria. Therewas not a significant difference between patients and controls regarding GP.Three FMF patients and 7 healthy controls fulfilled RLS criteria. There wasnot a significant difference between two groups regarding RLS. Two out of 27FMF patients with ELP had RLS while one out of 33 FMF patients withoutELP had RLS. Eight out of 27 FMF patients with ELP fulfilled GP criteriawhile two out of 33 FMF patients without ELP fulfilled GP criteria (p=0.01).There was a significant inverse correlation with FMF severity score and GP(p=0.003 and r=-0.376). There was not a significant association with FMFseverity score and RLS. This study suggested that GP and RLS are not morecommon in pediatric FMF patients than their healthy peers.