Early onset of menopause linked to heightened musculoskeletal pain and a higher likelihood of developing sarcopenia, a condition characterized by muscle loss.
Studies suggest a high economic burden among children and adolescents with musculoskeletal pain. There is no summary in the literature on the overall economic burden of musculoskeletal pain in children and adolescents. The aim of this systematic review of cost-of-illness studies was to synthesize the economic burden of musculoskeletal pain in children and adolescents. We conducted electronic searches on MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, EconLit, NHSEED, and HTA databases. We included cost-of-illness studies that estimated healthcare, patient/family, lost productivity, and/or societal costs in children and adolescents with musculoskeletal pain. The risk of bias was assessed with the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards checklist. All values were adjusted to the same reference year (2021) and converted to American Dollar. We included 45 cost-of-illness studies (n 5 665,623). Twenty-two studies estimated the annual healthcare costs that ranged from $143 to $41,379 per patien