Joint hypermobility classes in 9-year-old children from the general population and anxiety symptoms

Copyright © 2018 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. Objective: To obtain joint hypermobility classes in children from the general population and to study their characteristics in relation to anxiety measures. Methods: A total of 336 nine-year-old children from the general population were clinically assessed through 9 items of hypermobility, and their parents reported about the severity of anxiety symptoms. Latent class analysis was estimated to group the children according to the presence of hypermobility symptoms, and the obtained classes were related to anxiety. Results: A 2-class solution, labeled as high hypermobility and low hypermobility, best fitted the data. Children in the high hypermobility group scored higher in separation anxiety, social phobia, physical injury fears, and total anxiety than did those in the low group. When applying the threshold reference scores to the total anxiety score, 7.4% of children in the high hypermobility group versus 6% in the low group were reported to experience clinical elevations on total anxiety. Conclusion: High symptoms of hypermobility are associated with higher scores in anxiety symptoms in children from the general population. Children with frequent symptoms of hypermobility may benefit from screening for anxiety symptoms because a subset of them are experiencing clinical elevations and may need comprehensive physical and psychological treatment.