Overview of Rickets

Rickets is a condition that occurs in children, in which inadequate mineralisation of the skeleton causes bowing and distortion of bones, limb pain and fractures.

In developed countries, vitamin D deficiency accounts for most cases of rickets in children with normal or near-normal kidney function. Vitamin D supplementation with colecalciferol is the mainstay of treatment for these patients.

Rickets can also be caused by severe kidney disease, hypophosphataemia (eg X-linked hypophosphataemic rickets) and vitamin D–dependent rickets (types 1 or 21).

1 Vitamin D–dependent rickets type 1 is a deficiency of the enzyme that catalyses the conversion of 25-hydroxyvitamin D to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. Vitamin D–dependent rickets type 2 is a mutation of the vitamin D receptor gene, leading to resistance to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D.Return