What it means?
Rickets is a condition seen in children who have deficiency in vitamin D. As a result of deficiency, these children will have weak or deformed bones.
What causes it?
- Deficiency of vitamin D due to lack of intake of dairy products, lack of sunlight exposure, babies who are only breastfed, children with lactose intolerance
How child will present like?
- Child will be drowsy, easy fatiguability
- Child can have weak muscle tone, difficulty in climbing stairs, difficulty in getting up from floor
- Child complains of pain in leg on exertion
- Child can also develop bulging around the wrist and ankle
- Child can develop bowing of legs or knocked knees according to the age
What are the test required?
- Blood test like serum vitamin D3, calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase to assess their levels in blood
- X-ray of the limbs to assess the status of bone, condition of growth plate, amount of deformity
What are the treatment options?
- Calcium and vitamin D supplements
- Proper sunlight exposure
- Child have inherited type of rickets then it requires further evaluation by Pediatric Endocrinologist and need to be treated accordingly
- If child have persistent deformity even after correction of the deficiency and the deformity was significant then it may require surgical correction according to the type, severity of deformity and age of the child
What will be outcome?
- Most of the children with rickets will do good once diagnosed early and treated accordingly
- Most of the bony deformity will get corrected after correction of the deficiency over a period of time
- If left untreated, deformity will progress and which can affect the mobility of the child