Rickets treatment and prevention with vitamin D by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Rickets develops when growing bones fail to mineralize.

Diagnosis of Rickets
In most cases, the diagnosis is established with a thorough history and physical examination and confirmed by laboratory evaluation. Nutritional rickets can be caused by inadequate intake of nutrients (vitamin D in particular); however, it is not uncommon in dark-skinned children who have limited sun exposure and in infants who are breastfed exclusively. Vitamin D-dependent rickets, type I results from abnormalities in the gene coding for 25(OH)D3-1-alpha-hydroxylase, and type II results from defective vitamin D receptors. The vitamin D-resistant types are familial hypophosphatemic rickets and hereditary hypophosphatemic rickets with hypercalciuria.

Cause of rickets
In addition to vitamin D deficiency, other causes of rickets include renal disease, medications, and malabsorption syndromes.

Treatment of Rickets
Nutritional rickets is treated by replacing the deficient nutrient. Mothers who breastfeed exclusively need to be informed of the recommendation to give their infants vitamin D supplements beginning in the first two months of life to prevent nutritional rickets. Vitamin D-dependent rickets, type I is treated with vitamin D; management of type II is more challenging. Familial hypophosphatemic rickets is treated with phosphorus and vitamin D, whereas hereditary hypophosphatemic rickets with hypercalciuria is treated with phosphorus alone. Families with inherited rickets may seek genetic counseling. The aim of early diagnosis and treatment is to resolve biochemical derangements and prevent complications such as severe deformities that may require surgical intervention.

Epidemiology of nutritional rickets in children.
Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl. 2009; Al-Atawi MS, Al-Alwan IA, Al-Mutair AN, Tamim HM, Al-Jurayyan NA. Department of Pediatric, National Guard Health Affairs, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh; College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In most developing countries, nutritional rickets is a major health problem. The aim of this study was to explore the magnitude of nutritional rickets among Saudi infants, and the various clinical presentations. We carried out a retrospective study at King Abdulaziz Medical City-King Fahad National Guard Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The records of Saudi infants under the age of 14 months over a 10-year period (between January 1990 and January 2000) were reviewed. There were 283 infants diagnosed with nutritional rickets due to Vitamin D deficiency (67% males) who were between 6 and 14 months of age. Among the total, 70% were exclusively breast-fed, and 23% were breast-fed until the age of 1 year. The most frequent clinical presentation was hypo-calcemic convulsions (34%) followed by chest infections (33%) and gastroenteritis (25%). In conclusion, nutritional rickets is still prevalent in Saudi Arabia with the primary etiology being vitamin D deficiency. Therefore we recommend that every infant, who is exclusively on breast-feeding, has routine supplement of vitamin D in the range of 200 IU/day (alone or as apart of multivitamin), started soon after birth until the time of weaning.