The reported characteristics of child and adolescent participants in research on non-traumatic anterior knee pain: a scoping review

The objectives of this review were to identify the characteristics reported for child/adolescent participants in research on patellofemoral pain, Osgood Schlatter Disease, patellar tendinopathy, Sinding Larsen Johansson Syndrome and non-specific anterior knee pain, and compare similarities and differences in reported characteristics between conditions. A systematic search occurred in PubMed, Embase, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library until July 18, 2024. Studies were screened to identify full-text articles that were primary research, with purposeful recruitment of children and adolescents with one of the above-mentioned conditions. Reported participant characteristics were extracted, frequency counted and mapped to categories. Characteristics reported for each condition were compared descriptively. This review included 214 studies, with 950 different reported characteristics mapped to 34 categories. The most frequently reported categories were demographics (96.4%), condition features (63.2%), pain (47.7%), anthropometrics (46.8%), and physical activity (45.9%). There were similarities in the characteristics reported between the different non-traumatic anterior knee pain conditions. Aside from participant demographics (e.g., age, sex), there is considerable variability in the characteristics reported in child/adolescent non-traumatic anterior knee pain research. This suggests lack of agreement on characteristics that are important to report in this population, and the need for consensus.